How do you exhibit art?

Mr Benevolent

I've got a few pieces I'd like to exhibit. They're... errr.. 'modern' art and I've gotten enough unsolicited compliments about them to assmume they're pretty good. Personally I'm not too sold on 'em but what the hell, with the amount of crap modern art out there I might as well give it a shot, nothing to lose etc - I don't expect to make lots of money either. So do I do it? I'm in North Dublin.

ztoical

there's a difference between exhibiting and selling. If your looking to sell you've a couple of options:
[a]sell online via sites like etsy or ebay
go round your local area and see if any of the cafe/coffee shops hang local artists work for sale [some may take a % cut some may not]
[c] go round local galleries and ask to show your book and artists CV to them [if you've no art background this will be a though sell and if you do get your work into a gallery they will take anywhere from 40 to 50%]
[d] find a space and organise your own show [this option lets you cut out the gallery owners but you will have to promote the show yourself]
[e]Check out local gallery shows for artists groups/collectives showing and ask about submitting to their next show [the cost of the show is usually split between all the artists]
[f] sell on the street/markets/craft shows etc [can be a very cheap option but sales can be iffy depending on weather and some areas will require a license to sell and some fairs ask for product liability insurance to sell]

derek finn

i dont know if you want to exhibit in a gallery,(hard work) but if you want to exhibit on the internet i recommend irishart.com

ztoical

derek finn wrote: »

i dont know if you want to exhibit in a gallery,(hard work) but if you want to exhibit on the internet i recommend irishart.com

correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding of irishart.com was that it was a listing of work for sale in Irish galleries and does not sell art work directly via the site so you'd have to deal with a gallery anyway. If you are looking to sell your work via the net etsy and ebay are the two most rec'd sites [I know there's a bunch more but those two are normally top of the list] other then setting up and running your own webstore.

derek finn

im afraid im going to have to correct you, www.irish-art.com is a web site for irish artists some known, some never heard of, but a great start for any budding artist, granted they will want to have to see afew pictures before they put you up on their web, you can also make your own gallerys,
very simple to use,

ztoical

derek finn wrote: »

im afraid im going to have to correct you, www.irish-art.com is a web site for irish artists

you listed irishart.com in your first post, not irish-art.com, which is a different site.

derek finn

id say your the sort of person that has to have the last say

eyefordetail

Try The Street Gallery.com. They have a whole host of Irish Artists selling their work online. They charge you commission but its a good place to get started.

Mink

eyefordetail wrote: »

Try The Street Gallery.com. They have a whole host of Irish Artists selling their work online. They charge you commission but its a good place to get started.

I sold a painting through them last year actually. Mind you, I've sold squat through any avenue this year!

eyefordetail

Mink wrote: »

I sold a painting through them last year actually. Mind you, I've sold squat through any avenue this year!

Join the club!! I recently exhibited in a small theatre near me during a performance. People looked around at the art before the performance and during the interval. I only sold one painting but its led to another exhibition during a festival in the same town this June. You could give something like that a try.

You should also try contacting the orgainsers of any festivals that happen in your area. They often organise art trails or exhibitions in conjunction with the festival that you could get involved in. The fee & commission charges are generally pretty reasonable and its a great way to get your name out there and meet people to get feedback about your work!

sheepstown

Confab wrote: »

I've got a few pieces I'd like to exhibit. They're... errr.. 'modern' art and I've gotten enough unsolicited compliments about them to assmume they're pretty good. Personally I'm not too sold on 'em but what the hell, with the amount of crap modern art out there I might as well give it a shot, nothing to lose etc - I don't expect to make lots of money either. So do I do it? I'm in North Dublin.

then go around,gallerys, community centres,cafes,restaurants.anywhere just get THEM OUT THERE.the world has to see them.believe in them and art.price them high because you deserve to be paid for your time.people wont think their good if you sell them for buttons.all art is different ,art that you might hate, someone else might love, its just exposing it to the right people.some people do modern art because thats how they express themselves others like representational art,body art,(painting is not the only form of art) the list is endless. art has no limits,complete freedom man,welcome............

ztoical

sheepstown wrote: »

price them high because you deserve to be paid for your time.people wont think their good if you sell them for buttons.all

People who know nothing about art might think something isn't good if it's selling cheap but those same people won't buy pieces because they like the piece but because they think the artist who did is going to be a big name and they see it as an investment. Be realistic, big name artists can charge big name prices as people will buy their work as an investment, some people invest in art like others do in the stock market and in those cases it's less about the work and more about the artist's name attached to it. When starting out you can't sell based on your name so treat it like any other job work out a realistic rate.

Artists need to very careful how they price their work, while I agree people shouldn't under value their work, there are a hell of lot of artists out there who over value and aren't aware of what are current market values. I've seen straight out of college students copy the same prices as Patrick Scott for their work. Patrick Scott can charge 10,000 euro for a monoprint because he is Patrick Scott!

When pricing work you should work out how much the materials cost for creating the piece, work out a % of your studios rent/heat/light/insurance etc, work out an hourly rate for how long it took to create the work and add around 20% on top of the finished price. As your CV hopefully develops with a strong client list, residencies, publications, group/solo shows, and grants/awards you can increase your rates. Also be aware of the current climate, it's always better to have stock moving then sitting around gathering dust in your studio.