| Do you prefer to have your own gallery or selling art online? | Do you have your own gallery or you just sell your artwork online? | | | | | | | | Art Dealers | | Online sales | | How Do You Feel About Co-Op Galleries? | | Extend Relationship | | | | Message Canvas | |  | | | Mehran Ramezan-Baig said
at 8:45pm on July 7th, 2008 | You are welcome. This is a nice group. There are many things I can learn from others who share their experiences like Momoko, and others. | | | | Hengameh Kaghazchi said
at 7:38pm on July 7th, 2008 | Welcome to our group Mehran and thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures with us. | | | | Mehran Ramezan-Baig said
at 7:04pm on July 7th, 2008 | My idea is to live without any dependency to a certain place or location. Working online, selling online and whatever is in that line works for me just fine. I want to be free, and travel all lands. | | | | Hengameh Kaghazchi said
at 12:26pm on June 23rd, 2008 | Thank you Momoko,Ashley,Luarel and Janeice for your recent messages. I was out of country for a month and missed you all.
Love & Peace | | | | MOMOKO said
at 5:25pm on June 15th, 2008 | I've been an artist since 2005. Because I started up from nothing, I took ANY open opportunity to expose my art. That had brought a lot of turmoil and humiliation to me, but I don't regret it because if I didn't do what I did, I would have given up by now.
Certain amount of loss is expected when starting a new business. I've given free stuff to certain people for the long term promotion, and I've also lost my stuff on irresponsible people, but I want to consider it an investment. I took the risk and paid for it.
Because I put up with jerks and idiots (and perverts), I can see the red flag better than before. I now know better how to avoid certain persons and businesses. | | | | Ashley Dietrich said
at 2:05pm on June 14th, 2008 | I am getting pickier about who I work with for sure! Every few years (against my better judgement) I take on a job that makes me wish I never was an artist. I'll do anything to avoid that again. I am currently waiting for payment on one of those.
I have raised my custom work prices to avoid "penny-pincher" projects too. The extra cost is to cover the time/effort of drawing up sketches and contracts beforehand - as well as the risk involved in commissions. Working with decorators has brought in more work, but it adds to the difficulty and expense of making art. I am busy enough locally that I haven't been dealing with galleries much. All I know is that the more people involved in what I do, the more trouble. I started asking up front "who besides you (the person asking for custom work) will be approving this piece when I finish?" If they have a decorator or an over-involved family member who I have to please sight-unseen as well, I add extra cost built in for the extra risk - or turn it down.
I will also start asking for a full payment up front for murals. With paintings, 50% before and 50% upon delivery is fine - I can always hold it until they pay, but the mural is just... there.
Another thing: I have made a pact with myself to always make the extra effort to be professional in every aspect. I will show up to a client's house in business attire, with a briefcase of sample contacts, past work, references, and a sketch pad for notes. I look young (not complaining!), and that has worked against me in the past. I will not take on a job that I will dread, or with potential for too many problems. I will only take on projects with enough budget to make it what it needs to be to represent my work well. I will not let doing what I love stress me out. | | | | Ashley Dietrich said
at 1:46pm on June 14th, 2008 | I am getting pickier about who I work with for sure! Every few years (against my better judgement) I take on a job that makes me wish I never was an artist. I'll do anything to avoid that again. I am currently waiting for payment on one of those.
I have raised my custom work prices to avoid "penny-pincher" projects too. The extra cost is to cover the time/effort of drawing up sketches and contracts beforehand - as well as the risk involved in commissions. Working with decorators has brought in more work, but it adds to the difficulty and expense of making art. I am busy enough locally that I haven't been dealing with galleries much. All I know is that the more people involved in what I do, the more trouble. I started asking up front "who besides you (the person asking for custom work) will be approving this piece when I finish?" If they have a decorator or an over-involved family member who I have to please sight-unseen as well, I add extra cost built in for the extra risk - or turn it down.
I will also start asking for a full payment up front for murals. With paintings, 50% before and 50% upon delivery is fine - I can always hold it until they pay, but the mural is just... there.
Another thing: I have made a pact with myself to always make the extra effort to be professional in every aspect. I will show up to a client's house in business attire, with a briefcase of sample contacts, past work, references, and a sketch pad for notes. I look young (not complaining!), and that has worked against me in the past. I will not take on a job that I will dread, or with potential for too many problems. I will only take on projects with enough budget to make it what it needs to be to represent my work well. I will not let doing what I love stress me out. | | | | Laurel Moore said
at 9:25am on June 14th, 2008 | I agree Janeice.
It is good you have brought the potential problem up though Momoko, for the benefit of all artists. Let's face it, we all learn more by our mistakes.
It's well worth checking all the payment details BEFORE you sign up with a gallery.
And if they break their verbal contract, make it clear you will not deal with them again, OR recomment them to your many other artist friends!
| | | | Janeice Silberman said
at 9:14am on June 14th, 2008 | Momoko, You might want to be more careful in choosing your art galleries. I have not had these problems at all.....but I am very careful about who I work with. | | | | MOMOKO said
at 8:45am on June 14th, 2008 | Almost all art galleries work with artists in the form of consignment. Galleries do exhibitions, and if someone buys your art, gallery collects money from the buyer, keep the portion for their commission, and pay the rest to the artist.
But that's not what I see happening. The contract expires. I don't get some of my stuff back. I lose my stuff. I don't get paid for the loss.
So I don't have a choice. I sell my art directly to buyers. Whenever there's consignment, there's a problem. So I say NO to galleries. They can do my exhibition only if the gallery buys my art upfront, then there's no consignment to suffer from. I had done a lot of shows in the past years, and there were more problems than profit.
Exhibiting in public places such as cafe and business buildings is simpler and less problematic. I just put my art, and when the time is up, I remove them. They always have me sign the waiver of liability, the agreement that by exhibiting they are not liable for loss and damages. | | |
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