L. P. Skeen on thu 6 sep 01
somewhere in Iowa. Saw this person's work in a gallery, but said =
gallery refuses to tell first name or any contact information for the =
artist! (I think that's weird.)
The pieces I saw were hearts and other slab forms of various shapes and =
sizes, some had wire and beads.
Any leads appreciated.
L. P. Skeen www.living-tree.net
Living Tree Studios, Summerfield, NC
"Just because nobody understands you does NOT mean that you are an =
artist."
The election ain't over til your brother counts the votes.
Snail Scott on thu 6 sep 01
At 03:37 AM 9/6/01 -0400, you wrote:
>...gallery refuses to tell first name or any contact information for the
artist! (I think that's weird.)
Not as weird as it oughtta be. It means that the gallery
thinks you want to cut them out; that you think you can
get a better price by going directly to the artist.
All too often, galleries are like this because they've
been burned before, by artists who are willing to give
a 'studio-direct' discount.
Sometimes the customer isn't fishing for a discount,
but thinks it's better for all the money to go to the
artist. Even if the artist sells only for full-price,
cutting out the gallery from their percentage is doing
the artist a short-term favor at best.
Sometimes the artist isn't aware that the contact info
came from the gallery, and assumes that it was a 'word-
of-mouth'. Even if an artist is ethical, and only sells
direct to people who found out about their work though
other sources, a savvy customer will simply not admit
to having found them through the gallery.
Even if there's no active intent to cheat the gallery,
it's very short-sighted for both the customer and the
artist, as it helps drive the gallery out of business,
resulting in one less venue for that artist and others
to connect with customers.
Even if you told the gallery that you only wanted to meet
the artist personally, I could understand the gallery's
paranoia. The gallery is not the enemy of the artist, and
too few artists and customers understand this. Many think
they're doing a good thing by cutting out the gallery.
Add to them the (fortunately small) number of genuinely
dishonest people, and it's a wonder more galleries aren't
equally reticent.
My suggestion: Demonstrate to the gallery that you're an
artist yourself. Then they'll know that your interest is
truly professional, and that you are probably too broke
to be a potential customer anyway! ;)
I have a stack of business cards with images of my work
on them. I keep them with me and hand them out freely.
Anyone can call themselves an artist, but those little
pieces of cardboard give me more credibility than just
about anything. Besides, you never know who you'll run
into, and they're a lot more portable than a binder full
of photos!
-Snail
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