my rant of the day
edward winkleman talks about "The Logic Behind the 50/50 Split "
"...In general, I find the artists most upset about the 50/50 split fall into one of two categories: 1) they don't understand the business that well (and many of them have never had full-time representation) or 2) they have a bad relationship with their gallery (i.e., their gallery is not doing enough in their opinion to earn the 50% they're taking)..."
I guess I never really saw 50/50 split as a problem....as long as I felt the gallery stood behind the work and were "working" their hardest to promote the artist. Sometimes I ran into places where the work just sat in the back racks and it seemed luck if something sold. I know that the Detroit market is a tough place to sell works and galleries do their darnedest to make a sale. Many galleries here offer a discount too that they usually take off their end of the sale too. I still get upset when I think about all those MI collectors that hop on their jet and buy their art in NY/LA/London...sometimes just to have the prestige to say that they bought it in those cities. Now, this isn't everyone in Detroit but ask any artist about collectors here and I am sure you will hear some sort of rendition of the "collectors buying else where" story. I think I just got off track from the 50/50 discussion....... Anyway, that is one of the reasons I am doing the gallery for the summer; to show that you can bring really, really great contemporary artists (from all over the world - LA, NY, Chicago, Germany...) and show them in context with Detroit artists. Not only does it put Detroit on the map when those artists tell their artist friends that they are showing here but it hopefully raises some collectors' brows.
"...In general, I find the artists most upset about the 50/50 split fall into one of two categories: 1) they don't understand the business that well (and many of them have never had full-time representation) or 2) they have a bad relationship with their gallery (i.e., their gallery is not doing enough in their opinion to earn the 50% they're taking)..."
I guess I never really saw 50/50 split as a problem....as long as I felt the gallery stood behind the work and were "working" their hardest to promote the artist. Sometimes I ran into places where the work just sat in the back racks and it seemed luck if something sold. I know that the Detroit market is a tough place to sell works and galleries do their darnedest to make a sale. Many galleries here offer a discount too that they usually take off their end of the sale too. I still get upset when I think about all those MI collectors that hop on their jet and buy their art in NY/LA/London...sometimes just to have the prestige to say that they bought it in those cities. Now, this isn't everyone in Detroit but ask any artist about collectors here and I am sure you will hear some sort of rendition of the "collectors buying else where" story. I think I just got off track from the 50/50 discussion....... Anyway, that is one of the reasons I am doing the gallery for the summer; to show that you can bring really, really great contemporary artists (from all over the world - LA, NY, Chicago, Germany...) and show them in context with Detroit artists. Not only does it put Detroit on the map when those artists tell their artist friends that they are showing here but it hopefully raises some collectors' brows.
posted by art blogs are fun at 9:25 AM
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