I have worked with many galleries and shootink works of art was a speciality of mine. I have worked from small owner-run galleries to the Royal College of Art and the South African National Gallery was one of my biggest clients.
I can comment as follows.
Firstly, It is my observation that artists make very poor business-people.In fact it seems the more deeply they involve themselves with art, the less business acumen they have.
They rely on commercial galleries to administer thier business afairs. The best situation is a really benevolent gallery owner who is passionate about an artist's work and promotes it.
That said, I have worked for a couple of very successful artists that have managed all thier own affairs, but they are in the minority. These guys exhibit in all kinds of places that are not actual galleries and avoid paying commissions.
Commercial Galleries (usually run to make a profit as opposed to galleries that do not generally sell work such as trusts, private collections and government owned galleries) can be run by
1.Business people who are art lovers and academics (and often experts in a specific field), therefore they have a passion for staying on top of art trends. They have a separation from the work that artists can not have. These people make great curators and can have very successful businesses. In my experience they are meticulous when it comes to record keeping and running thier businesses and they are not afraid of the new or outrageous.
2. Business peope who don't know too much about art but know what sells. They buy and show what they know there's a demand for and thus can be successful financially. In my experience these people will get things done as economically as possible. They try to impose values on the artists they hang. They would say something like :Can you do me one of your oils but use mostly warm colours. The trend for summer furnishings is towards the red end of things"
3. Artists, usually retired or not financially successful in thier field, looking for a way to generate income while staying connected to the art scene. These people are generally running small galleries on low budgets and have bad experience asking for large amounts of money for thier own work. They usually run galleries where one could pick up a bargain by an unknown artist. They spend little on promotion and avoid anything on the edge. No trends come out of these galleries but they are accessible to all artists.
An artist doing spectacular cutting edge and original work, who has no agent will do a lot worse than an artist producing mediocre, reruns or popular work who has a great agent or gallery.
A commercial gallery is a business for gain first, and a cultural institution second.
My 5c worth
herschel
Marilyn <marilyn@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Marilyn <marilyn@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello PF Members,
I'm taking a class to finish a degree I started when I was much younger
(better late than never?). The course is Writing the Feature Story, from
U.C. Berkeley. To earn credit I must write a complete feature story
(something you would see on the front page of a newspaper or in a magazine
such as Time or a news-type magazine).
After submitting many article ideas to my instructor, (and having many
submissions returned with a , "Well - you could try this, but I don't know .
. . ") the chosen subject for the feature story is going to be about a local
gallery that has just been bought by a small art guild. The previous owner
was a business person, not an artist.
The gallery is now owned and run by artists, only. In my article I will be
comparing galleries run by business people vs. galleries owned and run by
artists. (The small, local gallery will be the center piece of the article
because it is now going through the ownership transition.)
I would like to hear thoughts and comments from all of you who would like to
reply and have opinions and thoughts about the artist vs. business-person
run galleries.
Have any of you had personal experiences with either, or both types of
galleries? Do you have a preference to work with either gallery? If so,
why?
I am in the draft stages of this article, so anything you have to say could
help me out. Your comments might trigger an award winning article (or at
least an article worthy of an "A"{:->).
Thank you for your help in advance.
Marilyn
________________________________________________
Let no one come to you without
leaving better and happier.
Mother Teresa
______________________________________________
Herschel Mair
Head of the Department of Photography,
Head of the Department of Photography,
Higher College of Technology
Muscat
Sultanate of Oman
Muscat
Sultanate of Oman
Adobe Certified instructor
+ (986) 99899 673
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