Priceless Art

If I go out to buy something for my pleasure, or as a gift, there is an upward monetary limit. But if I'm shopping with a friend, I tend to spend a little more than I would have ordinarily, just from the feelings of pleasure companionship brings. At an exposition or show in which the shopping is within a limited time, impulse buying comes into play.

Whenever I exhibit my paintings in such a venue, I try to remain available at all times possible for questions about my art, without volunteering too much spontaneously. Off-the-cuff chatter can actually distract some potential buyers from the piece they had shown interest in. There are no hard and fast rules for pricing art, but artists, wrongly or rightly, do establish certain rules in figuring out what price on a piece of art is marketable.

This is where trying to read prospective clients' minds is impossible. You can wonder whether you are under-pricing and causing clients to think your work is not a collector's item, and, at the same time, wonder whether your pricing is too high. It's an almost impossible task if you are showing your work at an exhibition, especially when the exhibit is in a different state or is in a traveling exhibit.

When there is no communication between the artist and the potential buyer, you are not forming the kind of relationship that lets you discuss pricing in an easy manner with someone might become a lifelong client.

So here are the pricing guidelines many of my friends use:

1. Consider the venue and price accordingly. I'm not sure if this works, since it's hard to know, even in a smaller city, whether collectors will look twice at art that is under-priced, or potential collectors will be frightened away by art that is overpriced.

2. Price by the square inch. Don't laugh. This is a common way to price -- say what you will about quality outranking quantity. There are artists who paint up a universe in a 9" x 12", and artists who enlarge a slice of bread and a glass of wine for a 36" x 48", so some common sense in using such a gauge is needed.

3. Price by your experience. How long have you been painting? How many happy buyers of your art do you have on your list? Does it matter if haven't achieved major recognition in your field? These are questions one has to ask oneself, and decide how important each point is in pricing.

4. As above, in #3, price by your growth. If an artist is staying in the same place he/she was a few years ago, some effort is necessary to force-feed the talent. Save up and attend workshops taught by those you admire. Join a group of artists who get together to do art regularly. Swap ideas, methodology and news.

5. I saw this one in The American Collector magazine. Form a chart of your prices to include small to large sizes vertically, and horizontally, list your prices according to the 5-year period in which your skill and marketability is growing. (See illustration above.)

6. If none of these options appeal to you, try the gallery route. A good gallery will help you establish prices. You lose control of selling your own art, but some artists do not consider the selling as pleasurable. As you establish an open and honest history with the gallery, you can go ahead and sell your own art whenever opportunity presents itself, but be sure to charge the gallery's price and pay their commission quickly.

I prefer to sell my own art, but I certainly understand the convenience of having gallery representation. Most of my income from art is in commissioned portraits, and I enjoy dealing directly with my clients very much. I hope one of the pricing methods, or a combination thereof, could be helpful.

-- Nancy
www.nancyparkfineart.com