Art doesn’t have to be better than mediocre to sell.
Recently, Cory Huff of The Abundant Artist interviewed me, and he titled the interview “Art Doesn’t Have to be Better than Mediocre to Sell” based on something I’ve said on my blog and something we talked about in our conversation. And I stand by my statement, even though I never thought of it as something that I had to stand by until Cory pointed out to me that it was a controversial thing to say!
As I see it, the appreciation of art is a layered and complex experience. Different people like different work for many different reasons, and often the reasons have nothing to do with the work itself. It may instead have to do with the particular gallery that the work is seen in or it may be that the artist is well-liked socially. It could even have to do with the context surrounding the discovery of a particular artist’s work. For example, if the art was first stumbled upon during a magical day spent wandering the town with a new love, it might take on that feeling of specialness.
All this adds up to the fact that art doesn’t have to be amazing in order to sell: it has to be in the right place at the right time and it has to be relatable. Making sure that work is in the right place at the right time is hard to control, but a good first step is to get it out there—a lot! And as far as making art relatable goes, I’ve found that being relatable as a person makes my art infinitely more so. After all, people like to buy from people they like.
A few years ago, a subject of mine ordered a copy of Subjective the book from me, and I mailed it to her with a colorful assortment of stamps to pay the postage. In return, Lola sent me these old stamps with outdated denominations since she knew I would put them to good use.
Gwenn Seemel
Lola
2010
acrylic on canvas
36 x 24 inches
(To learn more about the making of this portrait, go here.)
I loved Lola’s thoughtfulness, and her gesture made her portrait that much more fun to paint.
Since finishing the painting a year ago, Lola and I have kept in touch now and again. And I like that about the work that I do: I like that I get to meet people like Lola. And when she sent me these custom stamps a few months ago, she solidified something for me.
My work may not change the world. It may not even be better than mediocre. But my art matters. It affects people and it affects me. And that makes me happy.
RELATED ARTICLES:
- Cultivating self-confidence / Comment cultiver la confiance en soi
- Commission work ≠ commercial work
- Selling art
CATEGORIES: - Business of art -
(5) Comments / Commentaires: Art doesn’t have to be better than mediocre to sell.
I’ve never thought of my trajectory in that way. I guess I do intentionally cultivate a specific audience in the sense that I like to surround myself both socially and professionally with people I get on with!
Agreed Gwenn, I attend a lot of exhibitions by some best selling artists (Rolf Harris, Fabian Perez etc) some buy because it’s collectable and valuable while others just fall in love with the piece. Every now and then someone will comment on style, method or medium and technique but most of the time it’s simply ” I just love it, it reminds me of .......” and often I get the feeling that they would have bought the work regardless of who painted it.
“it has to be relatable”
Yes! This hits home and I appreciate your entire post. Art speaks to people in many ways and there is no one way to appreciate it or to surround oneself with it.
@Ed: That’s interesting. I wonder how the artists would feel if they knew that the sale had nothing to do with them…? I know that sounds a little strange, but I’m coming from a place where most of my work sells at least in part because of me and my relationship with my clients. In the last few years, as some of my open market work has been selling to people I’ve never met, it’s been a bit unsettling to me...
@Carolyn: It’s fun to trace the way a particular person falls in love with a particular artwork. It’s usually such a convoluted story!
Cory Huff...
Many great points here Gwenn. I’ll also add that selling art can also have a lot to do with the intentional cultivation of a specific audience by the artist.
Andy Warhol did that. He surrounded himself with a bunch of strange people, and other people were attracted to that. It’s how his work was noticed by famous people - someone who knew someone followed one of the people close to Warhol.
--- -- - --- - ---- - - --- ----- -- -