Buying Art
I’ve been lucky to sell several original pieces over the years. Here are my patrons reasons for buying art.
- Connection – Feel connected to the artist or the work.
- Style – Collect something – typology, a color, a genre.
- Support – Support artists that inspire you.
- Investment – Art appreciates in value.
Selling Art
Once you start selling art the questions start coming from other artists. Mainly, “How did you do that?”
First put it up for sale in the real world and online, exhibit everywhere. When pricing the work I’d say use the craft definition of pricing to start with. It is a simple equation: Material cost x 2. This is a bare minimum pricing and suitable for high volume production or hobbyists. If you intend to survive as an artist I’d look at some of the following considerations for increasing the value of your work.
Considerations for selling valuable art (that probably only matter to other artists and museums):
- Originality – How many of these will be made? If only one, this creates a rarity and increases the value.
- Materials – Archival, top quality production will last longer and be easier to care for.
- Authorship – A direct connection to the artist, usually in the form of a signature.
Support the artist
Selling art allows me to fully explore other aspects of my creativity. Not all projects are commercially viable but these explorations are vital to stoking the fire and driving the process for producing future works that are.
