How do I get my painting out there to sell them?

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Question:

I have a web page and I am updating it to be easier to sell from!. I have had no inquires!. I am not sure what to do next!. How do you get into galleries!? I have only had one show In a local art walk!.
Any suggestions!? Thank you!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you're gonna have to soil your heart and soul by dealing with gallery owners and or managers and framers!. The art-world is a very vicious place and I learned very early on that most gallery owners would rather see you dead as to have to look at your paintings online or from some catalog you make to show them!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.If you actually get right in thier faces and physically walk them through looking at your art then you might stand a chance at making a minimal living at this endeavor!. You nearly have to be a better salesperson than they are!. Galleries want to use you to cover thier walls via the "consigment agreement"!.!.!.!.this means you'll have to pay up front to frame your own stuff and then add that cost on top of your art and then allow the gallery to take up to 50% from the gross!. If you let them consign your work, then it's out of your hands and you have no more control over your stock of paintings!. My suggestion is this : " try and figure out a price you can live with as an artist,!.!.!.!.!.while it's true that you might be expecting to have them pay your consignment as it appears on your agreement document, th gallery owner may sell it for alot more and not tell you!. That prior fact almost makes it important to you to figure out a minimum price for your paintings!.!.!.!.!.!.I like to say 25% and it's yours from your expectation of yourself!. Galleries tend to sell 3 or 4 artists really well and in reality there may be 25 artists anging on the walls,!.!.!.it just means that they are just covering thier own walls!.!.!.!.!.!.Here's an example,!.!.!.A 24 x 36 painting that I painted back in 1999 was selling for up to $7000!.00,!.!.!.!.it took me two days to paint it then but this is now 2008,!.!.!.!.!.!.!.In this market, one of my 24 x 36s might sell at auction for up to $11!.400!.00!.!.!.Here's the rub,!.!.It's the gallery that gets you known, it'ws the gallery who sells for you, it's the gallery who talks to people and tells them stories about your work and so forth and it's the gallery who tries to write off the money they'll lose in buying your work at wholesale prices!.!.!.!.!.So, lets say that one 24 x 36 sells for $8000!.00 ( hypothetically& via at auction ) I sold that same painting to the gallery the first time and they turned around and sold it for $ 7500!.00,!.!.!.well, I dont make any money off of it at all but the auction house will make 20% and they'll charge a catalog fee!. So, the gain on the painting isnt at all real,!.!.!.!.someone bought it from the gallery for $7000!.00!.!.!.!.!.!.somehow you have to take the new amount of sale against what it sold for at the gallery to the first buyer!.!.!.!.Ok, it sells at the auction for $7500!.00 ( not a big gain) but the auctionhouse takes 20% which is $1500!.00 the final profit is in acyuality " a loss" and so there's a loss of $1500!.00 which the owner will most likely write off!. The deduction for that artwork is 40% or $600!.00!.!.!.!.( again not a big gain)!.!.!.!.!.!.but there's $900!.00 in real credit if the form of cash or standard loss credit!. This same painting will auction again next year by somebody else!.!.!.!.or at some point in the future!. This means that the artwork keeps gaining value and though I will never be anything but me,!.!.!.!.!.that painting I just explained to you will overtake my ability to produce and it then it makes it almost impossible for somenoe who knows art not to try and buy directly from me!.!.!.!.!.And I have to say "that doesnt bother me at all"!.!.!.!.!.so lets go back now and let me explain how I sell my stuff wholesale, I take my suggested average retail price which is lower than what they'll sell it for ( I try and keep a 24 x 36 right at $4000!.00 unframed)!.!.!.!.!.I figure out how many square inches is there,!.!.!.!.!.864 sq inches!. Plus !.15 cents per sq inch for handling, the final canvas cost wholesale is roughly $995!.00!.!.!.!.!.!.So in two days I can make almost a grand,!.!.!.!.if I do that once a week!?!.!.!.then I am now middle class!.!.!.!.!.cuz I'm making $4000!.00 a month!.!.!.But I'm doin what I like to do and what a great thing this is!!.!.!.God has blessed me greatly!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.anyhow,!.!.at some point in time ( now in the past ) it is cheaper for me to go to an auction and buy my own work back ( if I can afford it ) and then re-sell it retail!. Artists get really old,!.!.!.!.!.I havent met one yet who died young and happy!!!!!!.!.!.!.!.So now I'm older and wiser and willing to give you all these words,!.!.!.!.I hope the site doesnt crash again like it did a few minutes ago!.
The problem you face is that you have to actually get out and deal with the owners of the galleries,!.!.!.that's a hassle but you still have to do it!. Keep your website, make up some business cards with your website on them,!.!.!.give them to everyone you talk to or see!. One other suggestion ( I dont know where you live ) is to get out and start meeting lawyers and doctors and politicians,!.!.!.the more people you see each day, the more you will actually sell your stuff!. I persoanlly count on 1000 people seeing my work before 2 Www@QuestionHome@Com

talk to the manager of an museum Www@QuestionHome@Com