About Ben Mahmoud Expertise Questions regarding "the business of the arts (ie.artist/dealer relations).
Questions regarding the collecting of contemporary art.
Please keep in mind that I am not a professional appraiser, however, I can direct interested parties to sources of information.
Experience 40 years as professor of art, Northern Illinois University
Curator of University Art Collection (responsible for purchase and care).
Member of the board of directors, Illinois Arts Council.
Juror of many competitions.
See vitae: http://benmahmoud.com/resume.html
Publications Many conference proceedings.
"Advice to Young Artists in a Postmodern Era" with William Dunning, Syracuse University Press, 2000.
Education/Credentials MFA, Ohio University, 1960
Awards and Honors See vitae: http://http://benmahmoud.com/resume.html
Question QUESTION: Hi,
I'm a senior majoring in art and I've amassed quite a collection of paintings
and drawings through my various classes and projects. a new art gallery
(near my home, not my school) is offering to sell my paintings, with a
reasonable commission for them of course. These aren't paintings I'm
particularly fond of, although I did spend a lot of time and energy on them
(and got good grade too :), so I'm entirely willing to part with them in the
hopes of extra cash to purchase new supplies and help pay for next (and my
last) semester. I won't bring the paintings to the gallery until mid-may, when
classes end, and the director ask that all paintings be priced, or at least have
an idea of price ranges. The problem is my four years of 'valuable education'
has not equipped me to actually sell anything! while my instructor always say
we should charge as much as famous people, i would actually like to SELL
something. is there any easy formula or rule to figure it out - such as based
on size, time spent, or level of experience? thanks so much for your help and
i look forward to hearing from you!
ANSWER: Wonderful questions.
First, let me say that in all of my years of teaching graduate students in Art, I found that those that successfully entered into the selling of their work early, became stuck. There was no further development, and in the long run, they had made some money early on, but they did not have a career as a gallery artist.
The real issue is maturity of thought and principles.
That have been said, let me turn to your questions.
Believe it or not: art is sold by the square inch. The larger the painting, the greater the price. Of course, there is a great range of what one artist's square inch would cost, as opposed to other artists.
There is also a very important tenet. YOU SHOULD NEVER LOWER YOUR PRICES. The reason for this is that people who have bought your work would see a decline in the value of your work, and not be favorably inclined to purchase more pieces from you. It is always best to enter the market very low, and as demand for your work grows, you can raise the prices. My first painting sold for $52.00, and the last painting I sold went for $12,000.00 Of course, there is a span of over 50 years there.
The usual commission by a dealer these days is 50%. If your dealer is taking less, then you can keep your prices lower. Now, comes the important question of pricing.
I don't know the market you are in. If it is a large city this will make a difference. If the dealer is well-established, and collectors regularly come to him/her, that is another important factor.
Lacking this information, I will make some guesses. Let's say you have a painting that is 48" x48" (and assuming that is ready to hang on a wall, ie., frame or whatever) you might price this painting at $500 (that is the sales price). For larger works, you can raise the price, and for smaller works, lower the price.
But before you turn the works over to the dealer, you MUST photograph them. If you have a very good digital camera, use that. If not, then you will have to used Ektachome film for 35mm slides.
These photographs have to excellent. You will be entering into shows, competitions, etc. in your career, and many times the juries make their judgments only on the 35mm slides or (in recent days) on digital media.
Let me give you a couple of tips about photographing your work. Never, never, never use a flash. All you will get is glare. You should purchase some photographic lights (say 500watts). Put them at 45 degree angels to the work. Adjust them until you have no glare. Put your camera on a tripod (important) and take the pictures. If you are using film, bracket your exposures. That means you determine what speed and F stop you should use. Take one photo at that setting, then take another at one F stop higher, and another at one F stop lower. If you are using digital media, then you can check each image, and see what has to be adjusted for a perfect photograph.
Next, get a good journal at a book store on stationery store. Open to the first page: Write your name and the date. On the next page, write the title, medium, size and date of each painting you put out on the market. You might ask the dealer to tell you who bought the work. Some dealer will not give out that information because they fear the artist will sell directly to the client. And that is another point. Never, Never, Never do anything that violates your agreement with the dealer. The art world is really a very small world. Word gets around if an artist violates their agreement, and then they are shunned for the rest of their life.
When you start to enter competitions, get another journal. Write down the name of every show you enter. Write down the work you sent and who the juror(s)was. Then, as time goes by you will see that some jurors favor your work, and some do not. With this information, you can always direct your best work the the juror who has favored your work.
Finally, let me suggest a book. This is a book that William Dunning and I put together a few years back. By the way, I get no royalties from the book. Bill Dunning died recently, and his widow gets the royalties. It is call "Advice to Young Artists In a Post Modern Era"
William Dunning with Ben Mahmoud. Syracuse University Press.
I know it is very helpful since the book has been used as a text in many graduate seminars around the country. I found it on Amazon.com, and there are used ones for about $16.00 including shipping.
Well, this has gotten much longer than you had anticipated, and I am sorry for my tendency to teach. However, if you have any follow-up questions, don't hesitate to ask. And down the road, if you have questions, you can contact me by my e-mail: bmahmoud@niu.eud
Well, good luck to you.
Regards, Ben Mahmoud
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks you so much for all the wonderful advice! I absolutely never
considered photographing work from undergrad classes, even though I'm
very fond of some . I'll be picking up the Bill Dunning book, I can assure you.
I have absolutely no desire to be stuck, but I also don't really envision a
prolific career selling paintings and living in a loft somewhere either. for that
reason, i'll be off to grad school next year to major in... something. do you
think it's unwise at this point in time to sell paintings through a dealer? i was
more looking to earn some extra money and stop storing those paintings in a
closet, but do you think it's a better decision to hang onto them? also, i'm
not entirely sure if any would actually sell, so would the dealer keep them
until they did, or would i have to take them back? any of you thoughts are
very much appreciated and I'm thankful for the lesson!!!
Answer Go right ahead and turn your work over to the dealer. But keep in mind that your creative freedom is the most important part of being an artist. If you make a bunch of money, don't let it tie you down to the same style. Keep developing.
Of course, it is very difficult to do the loft thing. However, I know a few people that have gone to NYC and have done OK. They keep feeding themselves, paying the rent, and making more art. But the odds are really against this kind of success.
Go to graduate school. You might think about getting an MFA in Painting. Then you would be qualified for a university or college teaching position. Such a position would give you a great deal of time to make your art. But be warned, it is harder and harder to find such jobs. If you got a Ph.D. in Art History, your odds would be better, but if you do that route, when you find a teaching position you would have to produce papers...even books in your field in order to gain tenure. But a job at a community college would not require that. By the same token, the community college jobs require more teaching, and there would be less time in the studio...but still more than some other kind of job. As a matter of fact, one of my friends, who is a really successful Chicago artist, work in the public school system. He recently retired, and is doing a lot of traveling. During his career, he produced a great deal of work, and most of it is in some museum somewhere.
The dealer would keep the paintings until he had shown them to all of his regular clients, and then put them up in an office or a group show to see if the work would attract new buyers. At some point, if the work did not sell, he would ask you to take it back. Maybe, he would ask you to swap the ones he had for some new ones.
If this person has an interest in your work, it is because he feels strongly that some of his clientèle would be interested.
Make sure that you have a clear understanding of his commission. If it would not broach his sensitivities, you might ask for a written contract....no. It's too early for that. See what happens. Maybe he will sell a lot of your work, and later on, you and the dealer can discuss prices, contracts, etc..
Again, keep in mind that sophisticated collectors expect to see the artist develop their thinking and creativity.
