Well here I am now 3 1/2 years into my new career as an artist (always was but now it has my attention) and something has been bothering me for the last 6 or 7 months - I had no word for it until now while writing an outline for a talk I'll give later next month. I used these (2) words for the first time "Creative Control"....well there you go! That's what's been bothering me! "Loss of Creative Control" as an artist! How could this happen? As artist we choose what we'll do or not do when facing a blank canvas.....even with a commission we have control - we can always say NO!
However this is not whats bothering me - I have control of what I paint! If I didn't I wouldn't do it!
But, this is......"How as an artist I'm represented by a gallery and how my paintings are displayed to the public"!
This also includes prestigious juried shows. An issue I easily resolved earlier when I saw how paintings were presented....once I had peer credits (its only value) I withdrew from the sandbox with the exception of one, OPA.
Basically my talk is about my marketing experiences dealing with my new career as an oil painter. With a focus on product and presentation of that product, in this case Fine Art.
Oddly related to my annoying issue and until now unnamed "Loss of Creative Control".
If you don't have a quality product and present it well the rest is mute! Every successful business needs something to sell, including galleries. Their success will be determined by how good the product is and how well it was presented to the buying public....
So logical it's pitiful when you think about it but often missed by galleries and artists alike with limited skills in this area. Not every one has a good eye and must rely on others to fill in the gaps or perhaps not! In my limited experience, most successful people do - it only takes one crash and burn to get your attention.
Good successful galleries know this, but most galleries have large numbers of paintings and artists to consider when spending space and money. I understand it completely! Galleries and artist have different agendas. However, being new in the game I didn't get it.
As I'm listing key points for my upcoming talk, I came to galleries and the gallery system....added it to the list and moved on because it was an annoying complex issue I did not want to spend any time on - one might say it is a pile of dinosaur bones. I only say this because the internet and digital world we live in has caused it to change - so the system is in a morphing stage right now. At this point its anyone's guess where it will land.
Sometimes decluttering is in order....even in galleries. but those issues are theirs not mine as an artist...however it does impact me.
Sounds like I have an opinion on it...which of course I do...:=) However I did not have a "firm position" until a few weeks ago. That formed over the last few months between paintings - in truth it really started on the plane during my return trip from London in January. I went to an opening night art exhibit in which I had 6 to 8 paintings on display....gurrrr!
As I indicated before "product presentation is as important as the painting itself" and depending on how well it is presented will determine it's success. As a designer I know presentation is everything! As an artist perhaps not! In any event, from this trip I had a serious issue to be resolved!
When I take a "firm position" I also have a "possible solution"..happens every day in the design & manufacturing world I'm from.
The gallery system was always meant to be the mainframe of selling my fine art paintings - in fact going in I did not think it could be done any other way - today I know it not to be true...as artists we do have options!
To my surprise when we deal with or use the gallery system to sell our work, we as artists "Loose Creative Control"; in fact we loose all rights as an artist when it comes to how we are represented and presented to the buying public!
Mistakenly I thought it would be a joint venture between gallery and artist and approached it as such......the only word I can describe what I ran into is WOW!
In the real world that only happens with STARS!
However this is not about getting into a gallery this is about after you're in or being approached by a gallery wanting to represent you"!
As artists, just like stars, we pay large commissions (only getting larger), expecting to be well represented and more importantly presented well.....we do not expect to be saloon hung sometimes frame to frame or hung in dark corners and worst yet, placed in a storage closet....that's a junk dealers approach!
Art, even badly executed art, needs room to breathe....even bad art can be sold if it's presented well. As a designer I've done it and made it work! And ....LOL...one could make a case it's done everyday in some of our best galleries too!
A gallery can't do a good job representing a large number of artists without good space, organizational skills and proper staff. If they do, it works, if they don't its a crash and burn scenario - if you've ever experienced one you don't need me to explain it!
Unlike galleries I have a pretty broad spectrum that goes well beyond the regional ponds, so I like it all and I want it all....LOL
There is nothing new about what I'm saying other than it's new to me and I won't stand for it and will look for solutions!
The more I'm around the gallery system, the more I don't want to be anywhere near it, and I couldn't understand that until now!
The only thing we can do is say NO!!!
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