As you know, I’m always browsing articles, books, movies and TV shows for ideas about art careers.
Today, I stumbled onto an article about an art show, with a very cool word: Recessionizing.
That’s what some artists and frame designers are doing with their artwork, and it’s described in this article:
Local artists offer accessible art at Metcalfe show – Your Ottawa Region
Local artists offer accessible art at Metcalfe show.
Lyall grew up in an antique shop and now runs a picture framing business out of her log cabin home near Greely, where she is famous for making shadow boxes to display heirlooms and …
As I read that article, I was reminded of the “Why Cheap Art?” Manifesto from Bread and Puppet. I’ll post that manifesto at the foot of this article. Feel free to right-click to save it, and share it with others. I think it’s more important today than it was in the 1980s.
It may seem odd for me to advocate a cheap art manifesto that says “Art is not business!”
Well, for me — and I think for many artists — art isn’t a business. We’d make art even if we earned absolutely nothing from it.
However, it’s possible to have a successful art career and keep your art affordable… to “recessionize” it, as the Canadian artists said.
One way is to sell high-end art — the pricey stuff — and use some of that income to subsidize the art you sell for far less.
(I’m reminded of something George Hamilton’s character said in the movie, Doc Hollywood. If you haven’t seen that movie, it’s worth watching. It includes some good lessons about career choices, too.)
The challenge is finding ways to keep your high-end artwork valuable. Otherwise, your upscale clients will wait for your inexpensive art to become available.
Or, even worse, your lower-priced works devalue the art that pays your rent, and — in a blink — you’ll be asking the customer if he’d like fries with that order.
It’s a dilemma for many artists.
Here are a few possible solutions:
- Price your art by the square inch. The smaller pieces will be affordable enough for almost anyone. The larger pieces will grace the walls of affluent homes and galleries.
- Create some of your work in different media. For example, your pencil sketches could sell in one price range, while your oil paintings might sell in another.
- Auction everything. Let the market establish the prices. Some will sell for more than others.
- Follow the example of Banksy: Share your art with the world, when you can. Create some of it as collection-worthy art that sells at shows and fine art galleries.
- Sell the high-end works. Barter everything else. Then, there’s no dollar value on the pieces you swap with others, so your work isn’t devalued in the marketplace.
I’m not sure that any of those are good answers. You may have to come up with your own .
“Recessionizing” is an elegant-sounding term for this, and a practical view as well.
To succeed as an artist, on both personal and economic levels, I think affordable art must be part of your business plan.
In addition, as you saw in the article I linked to, you can use this as a springboard for some great publicity.
Now, here’s the Cheap Art Manifesto:
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