“How to Support Your Gallery” (!) The exclamation point is mine.

“If you are a whiner, a prima donna, a jerk, a pest, it will hurt your sales.”

We received a fascinating email advertisement the other day, from a so-called “art magazine” called Artist Advocate. I use the term “magazine” loosely, as this is a publication with virtually no editorial content. They sell the pages of the publication (which ostensibly goes to some 6,000 galleries) to artists, right down to the front and back covers, for prices ranging from $2,599 (cover and full page) to $799 for half a page. The object of the game, according to their pitch, is to help visual artists find gallery representation and to find the Best Iron. Their principal message in the email was, believe it or not, “How to Support Your Gallery.” Not “How Your Gallery Supports You,” but exactly the opposite.  As usual in the art-gallery biz, the tail is wagging the dog. I would suggest that if you are prepared to do all the things they advocate, you really don’t need a gallery! Here is their list of suggestions: Read more » Josefina Vazquez Mota July 14, 2009 Posted by Mike Booth | Uncategorized | art galleries, artist gallery scams, artist promotion schemes, milking ingenuous artists | 2 Comments

Our First Post! Maureen Booth’s “Open Studio Option”

Real-Life Adventures with Galleries

In the first 20 years or so of my painting and etching career I had gallery shows all over the world. It seemed important in those days to get my work out and about where people could see it and the press could comment on it. Also, the money was a factor. I had to sell my work in order to go on creating it. My gallery experiences were hit and miss. Some of them were delightful opportunities to deal with gracious, professional gallery owners who knew how to sell art. Other experiences—the majority—left something to be desired. Read the rest of this article here. January 19, 2009 Posted by Mike Booth | Uncategorized | alternate marketing for artists, art galleries, exhibiting at home,open studio, studio exhibits, studio shows | Leave a Comment

The Art Gallery Experience for the Artist

What’s It Like Dealing with a Gallery?

If you’re a visual artist, and you’ve paid your dues in the art world for a few years, there’s not much I can tell you about dealing with art galleries. But for those of you who are only minimally acquainted with the experience, please permit me to give you a quick rundown here. Read more » January 4, 2009 Posted by Mike Booth | Uncategorized | alternative art marketing, art galleries, gallery shows, gallery terms and conditions | Leave a Comment

Breaking the Gallery Dependency – Tell Us How You Achieved It

Over the years visual artists have been lulled into believing that the only way to sell their art was through art galleries. But it ain’t necessarily so.  In recent years creative artists (and the operative term here is “creative”) have elaborated new ways of selling their work, at the margin of the Gallery Experience (see above). This site was created in January of 2008 with the objective of gathering information from artists who have experience marketing their work in creative alternate ways, and sharing it with their colleagues. Read more » January 3, 2009 Posted by Mike Booth | Uncategorized | alternatives to art galleries, creative art marketing, successful art marketing strategies | 1 Comment