How to Market Your Art

Find an Artist Representative, Agent or Gallery to Sell Your Art

The artist makes art and once that art is made, the artist makes more; once that art is made, the artist makes more. The artist periodically shows that art to people in the art business like dealers, galleries, representatives, and agents. Some of these professionals like the art so much that they want to sell it. The artist lets them sell it, returns to the studio, makes more art, let's them sell that, and so on. The artist says, "I make art; other people sell it."

If you think that's how the art business works and how you sell art, you need to change the way you think.

All artists want to sell their art, either through agents or galleries or other forms of representation. However, finding the right person or gallery to sell your art is more complicated than simply showing your art around until someone offers to manage the marketing and sales aspects your career. That rarely happens.

Your job as an artist is to survive as an artist so that you can make art. If you can't survive as an artist by selling your art, you have to get another type of job so that you can survive, and then either make art in your spare time or stop making art altogether.

Art dealers, agents, and representatives have the exact same challenge that you do. If they can't survive by selling art, they have to get other types of jobs in order to survive, and either stop selling art altogether or sell it in their spare time.

Art business professionals sell their art by convincing people that it has value and that it's worth paying money for in order to own.

Rarely in the art business do people spontaneously buy art because they fall in love with it the moment they see it. They ask questions first, and whomever answers those questions has to answer them in ways that sell the art. Anyone in the art business will tell you that no art sells itself; someone has to sell it.

The same holds true for you as an...