Is it about art or is it not?
A reoccurring theme in any conversation between artists, especially on the forums. For those of you who don't know who I am, http://BermanGraphics.com is a resource web site for artists doing art shows. Within the web site I have a section consisting of juror interviews and open jury reviews. http://bermangraphics.com/artshows/jury-reviews.htm
One of the interviews is with the late Michael Craven who juried Long's Park the year before he passed. He says in the interview, "If he or she hasn’t shown me anything new, found a new was to express him or herself I believe they have failed as an artist." You can read the entire interview at: http://bermangraphics.com/artshows/longs-park-2008.htm
So are art shows about art, or about selling something to pay bills, or both? How do you view what we do. I'm getting the sense that over the years, not as many artists do this for a living than used to. If we did a poll now, I'd be willing to bet that the majority do this as a supplemental income or to earn more money during their retirement.
Larry Berman
Art Show Jury Services
412-401-8100
Replies
Old post, but brought back to life:)
The answer has to be both, otherwise we could just bring our work to flea markets. For anyone who is a full time artist and does more then 10 art fairs a year it is mainly for the money. If you don't have another source of income, like a trust fund, spouse, "real" job and you need to pay your mortgage, buy food and suppport your children then you are doing the art fairs for $$$$. This doesn't take away anything from those who don't need the income from shows, but those of us that sell their art for a living have to make decisions based on what they will create and bring when doing an art show. I bet most of us that do this as our main source of income do a couple shows or exhibits a year that are not done for monetary reasons. I do a couple exhibits a year just to make me feel like it is all about the art and I don't have to worry about sales. The presentation, hoopla and the fancy pants people do make me feel special. But most of us don't travel 500 + miles , deal with 4am set ups, crappy motels, horrible weather and being away from our family just for the art or kudoos (actually being away from the family for a few weeks at a time is an added bonus) I can be all about the art on facebook all day long and not spend a dime. My oldest is off to college next year and another right behind him, then of course they need grad school. I need to make money to do this as a career, otherwise it is Walmart for me.
My last three shows my chartreuse abstracts have been selling like crazy. So guess what I am painting more of? Maybe I am in the "zone" with this color right now and my best work is with chartreuse or maybe people are buying this color because that is what is walking the runway right now, either way I am painting it. I know I know, call me a sell out if you want. I am also selling a lot more 48x48 so I am painting more of those too. I would much rather paint another 48x48 then go back to faux painting or someother odd job. Plus I am still exploring with this color (thank goodness many people are over blue :) If a jeweler sells all their earrings is it a "sell out" to make more earrings? What if she feels like making bracelets instead but has a ton of them already. What about photographers. How many of the same print are they allowed to sell before they are getting "lazy". How many mugs can a potter make before they go crazy? Who is the artist that adds a whistle to his mugs and a bell to the wine glasses? That is keeping it fresh but still working with what will sell. If what an artist is showing still speaks to the clients isn't that about the art. The public will force an artist to change if they have gone stale. White Birch trees, vineyards, doors, etc don't sell like hot cakes anymore unless there is something unique about it.
When I win the lottery it will be all about the art. I can afford to get bored with a piece and toss it instead of struggling through a piece. I will fly first class to all the shows and stay in the best of the best hotels. I won't be seen setting up a tent or breaking down, I will have people doing that for me. I won't be dealing with paper work, applications, taxes, ordering supplies or cleaning up the studio. I will even hire starving artists and pay them very well. It will be all about the art absolutely. Maybe an entire booth set up with just oxblood paintings all in the exact same size. That would be cool and I wouldn't care if I sold a thing. Forget propanels, I will have real walls built brand new for every show. I will take amazing trips around the world just to see an exhibit (well I kind of do this already BUT I will do it more). For now I have to think about what will sell so I can stay a full time artist. I still carve out some time to experiement with new things and commissioned work really pushes me. I have a love/hate relationship with commision work, but that is often where I discover new ideas and overcome challenges. Keeps me on my toes. I can still bring a piece or two that I want to show instead of sell at an art fair, but most of the work I bring I plan on selling. Actually if I have a piece that has been to an art fair more then 3x and hasn't sold I pull it. It doesn't go back into a show, but goes in to a gallery, to a rep, exhibit, etc.
For those of you who don't "need" the money please keep us on our toes and push the envelope.
Great article! As a new artist couple we haven't yet found our so called style and uniqueness...Or maybe in our our varied attempts we have found it and are in danger of losing it?
I completely agree that if your heart isn't in it your work it will suffer and your profits to boot. I also understand it takes compromise to make it if creating art is a full time job, like it is with my wife & I. We love using our imagination to create pieces but we love realist painting to improve our skill level. When someone eyes a realist piece that has sold we get asked if we are able to re create the piece. I begrudgingly agree to the commission out of monetry needs. I feel like I lose a little of my soul in copying my original piece. Then again no two pieces are exactly the same & there's nuances to each piece, making them unique in their own way. That said, it just doesn't provide the same buzz as when you're painting an original piece. I now understand what sells to a point & by keeping it safe. The closer to the edge your work evolves the more marginal your clientele. So with us we create mainly inspired original works and we paint a few repeated guaranteed sellers. We try to balance the two to pay the bills. We hope as our style develops we'll gain more attention and more shows where we show only our inventive stuff. We paint waves & marine life to an extent, an attempt at both surrealist and realist. It's hard to be original when you are mimicking an actual sea scene from a photograph say.
My wife currently works full-time in a soul sucking job, which provides me with motivation to get the art thing off the ground. If we get accepted to 15/20 shows for next year we'll jack in the soul sucking type job and both pursue art full-time. It'll be a full time job painting for that many shows..We figure if we generate equal earnings to our regular salary then why not.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this topic! Its the art! Money comes afterward. One thing I am always pushing is that I feel art should be fresh - not done before, not copied - FRESH. Granted there is nothing wrong with people who are inspired and choose to do art who follow in a style of like Monet or in classic Celtic designs and expanding on that. Art - whether it is viewed in a museum, gallery, craft boutique, or art fair - should be either something of beauty or controversy or grips people on an emotional level. I think if you have "IT" then money will follow. I have to say money is important and a great motivator - while not really the only motivator for all artists, but again it helps!
It really gets my goat that people try to sell the same thing over and over without it being fresh in anyway. Granted there are buyers/customers who find your work for the first time at an art fair after selling at it for say 10 years straight and that might be all an "artist" cares about. However, you are going to loose all the others (who are probably more numerous than the new customers) without trying to push the envelope. I love entering a booth - especially of someone I know, and the first thing they show me is their latest creation. The artists who are so enthusiastic about their new work often have a higher energy level that shines like a beacon not only attracting prospective customers, but at the same time you often seem them in a new light. This, for me, makes a "ho hum" artist to someone you want to follow, whether it is through social networking or via show to show. I think you see a person's artistic passion more if they are constantly working on newer art pieces than those just doing the same 'ol same 'ol.
This I think brings to light the interview you mentioned. Jurors don't want to be bored just as they don't want fair goers to be bored too. I think this can be better explained if you use the example of music. We all have a favorite singer/music group and we love them because of their unique style of music, but we don't want album after album of the same music just re-recorded, right? We want new music in their unique style in future albums. That is what makes Elvis - Elvis, Michael Jackson - Michael Jackson, The Beatles - The Beatles, The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones, REM - REM, etc. It is hard to "re-invent" yourself, but like in music, I do feel there is an expectation to want to do what you feel comfortable with, what you are known for (regarding your own personal style), but not loose that energy and passion to expand and grow.
In a sense I have to say, due to the time we are in, art does need to be thought of both creatively yet at the same time as a business. To get noticed, you have to market yourself. To market yourself, you have to know how to sell yourself, not just your art. Lastly, being one person (most likely one person) you have to budget your money and time to know when and how to meet the demand of buyers too. There is a lot of competition more so now, I think, than in the past for people to be exposed to art on different levels. Art isn't just local - in a gallery or local art fair - its via the internet (viewed via hundreds of millions all over the world) through websites like artfulhome.com, etsy.com and ebay.com, so I think artists have more pressure to prove themselves now more than ever both as artists and entrepreneurs. So, when it comes to fairs shows need to be art focused attracting all kinds of art - even DIY art and crafts (with an emphasis on higher quality DIY art and craft, not simple stuff anyone can make) and less about the money. Granted money is needed to pay the bills to get a show up and running, but not at the expense of gouging artists - an art show will not be successful if this is the platform art fairs choose to take. - Michelle, By the Bay Botanicals
I went into my glass work as a business after the printing plant I worked at closed the doors. I was 53 and had been working in glass since 1970.. Up until the plant closing I made what I wanted and did not care if it sold or not. I did art fairs for a few years in the 80's and had some fun. When I tackled this as a business I still created what I liked and did get into some very nice shows. Unfortunately the jurors are not the buyers and they can pick cutting edge art till the cows come home. That does not mean the art picked will sell. And as a business it has to sell! So it becomes a conundrum, create what the jurors want and create what will sell. If you're lucky both will be the same. If not you have both types of creations. One for the jury and a lot for the buyers. It was going back to the studio to create what I thought would sell where I lost my enthusiasm. I tried, but my heart was not in it. I became more like a manufacturer doing trade shows. Four years at it and I quit, I'm going back to making what I like and try to make ends meet in other ways. Social Security in two.
In every city I travel to I always see a handful of businesses, old and new that are thriving sometimes with line ups going out the door because they are offering unique and desirable products at a fair price. And I see bushels of others business's dead or dying because they are offering the same old tired stuff they've been hawking for ten years or more.
Artists who are offering unique and desirable products at a fair price are doing just fine.
Rick, you have nailed the secret of success. Be it art shows or craft shows, the exhibitor who has something different and appealing at a fair price will always do well.
I have been fortunate enough to be that person. The one at the show with something nobody else had. And I angered a lot of exhibitors because I was the one with the line in front of my booth and a cash bag full of money.
Was it fine art? Absolutely not! It was house numbers! But I also was the exhibitor who had the same thing for too long (house numbers for 12 years) and watched the customers go to other exhibitors who brought the next original thing that nobody else had.
New and different vs old and stale. Which one would you as a customer want?
I look at fairs as way to make sales directly to the public. I don't have gallery representation and the juried gallery shows I participate in have never generated sales for me. I sold more of my work in my first year doing fesitvals than I had managed to do in the previous 20+ years of my career. And I see no shame in making money and paying the bills by selling my art (not that you implied that there was any.) I just wish I was making enough to cover everything so I didn't have to rely on my husband so heavily. That being said, I do think it's about the art for me as well. I love my work and my medium. I just try to keep in mind that the art world is like a rainbow: there are people on the museum end, people on the sock puppet end, and everything in between. Figuring out where you land on that rainbow is the tricky part.
I liked the interview. Well said. Another quote, "has this artist shown me something I haven’t seen before or something I have seen before in a way that I haven’t seen it or thought about it." This line hit home to me as a "realist" artist. It's a genre that's hard to be "breaking the rules" and still say something. I paint mostly skyscapes and trees. I try to get at the feeling in the sky not so much the photographic look and with the trees I try to use them as symbols of people. O.k. before you yawn to death Larry. I know. What does this have to do with anything? Just that I hope art shows are at the deepest level about art and not just money. When I'm painting the piece I'm not thinking about how much money I'm going to make I'm thinking about content/feeling. But when I hang them up in my booth I am hoping that it connects with someone enough to part with money.
I am one of those who don't do art festivals full time and hope you are not implying that those who don't do it full time are the "fluff" of the shows. I bring my best work to the shows I get in and hope that everyone else does. I also hope that I sell something and that it touches people who really connect with my work. I would rather be enjoyed and not just "collected" and that's mostly why I like art festivals better than galleries.
My husband works as an engineer and thankfully keeps me and my three kids fed and warm. In some ways it frees me up but don't think that I'm not trying to squeeze every penny in my art budget. My hat is off to those of you who do this full time. I can only imagine the stress and rush you live in while trying to do something real and soul-nourishing. God bless that. But even you Larry do things on the side to make money. I would assume fixing my booth shots aren't real soul-nourishing for you but you do it cause you want to help other artists but also because it helps keep you going.
On the "new" subject I just have one beef with that and that's this: I've had judges come in my booth and I can tell by the way their looking at my stuff it's like, "Seen this before! yawn!" I wonder if they even consider that it's new to me? I'm discovering new things with every painting. New ways of seeing. I'm not so much out to take the art world kicking and screaming into my new view as much as I'm trying to grow. I guess there's the rub. How much are we asking ourselves as artists, "Is this my best? Am I doing something really truthful here?"
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