Being able to sell art is not an easy task. Even those
people who are already art collectors are hesitant to
be the first buyers from obscure or not so well known
artists. Additionally, it is way more difficult to
sell to people who are not really art collectors and
do not know anything about you. However, once you get
to make that first sale of your masterpiece, selling
again would be a lot easier than before.
Is Your Art Ugly?
As an artist, you should not start doubting yourself
about your creativity and skill with your art if you
are unable to sell them or only sell a couple. There
are several reasons on why people who already like art
do not buy pieces often. Such reasons are related to
their knowledge about art, self-confidence, identity
crisis of what their taste really is, and how much it
matters to them what other people would say about the
pieces they buy.
A lot of people in the art industry, whether they are
new ones or old, usually worry of what other people
would say about their purchase, or that their
colleagues and friends would make fun of them. Even
though a person likes a certain artwork of yours, they
are probably not sure on how well done the piece is,
whether it’s really worth the price, or whether you as
an artist is established enough in your career to
warrant such prices.
Thus, your job as an artist is to help those people
that admire your art feel secure and comfortable with
you both, as an artist and a businessperson. As you do
this, you help alleviate whatever other fears that
they may have and have a higher probability that
they’d buy your art.
If you don’t know where to start, then here are some
tips on how you can make admirers of your art buy your
piece and hopefully in time, turn them into patrons.
Tell Them: It’s OK, Really
Before you even start off with your sales talking, you
should be able to show people that purchasing your
artworks is okay. You can try talking about other
collectors that have bought your pieces, what kind of
people they are and how long you have been transacting
with them. Doing this would make your prospective
buyer let go of the thought that you’re just some bozo
trying to sell him a piece of junk and get hold of his
cash.
However, if you haven’t had any collectors, then you
should say so honestly. You should tell your
prospective buyer that you are open to the possibility
of selling your art to them, although you haven’t
really done this before.
How Do You Sell?
You should also talk to them about your method of
selling your art and in what specific circumstances do
people buy it. Additionally, it would be helpful if
you tell stories or anecdotes of how other collectors
have bought their first artworks from you. You should
also talk about your most recent sale, how you were
able to sell it, and for how much.
The method of how you price your works should be
mentioned too, along with which of your work types is
the favourite among collectors, and how many have you
sold all in all.
Exposure
Lastly, it would be very helpful to talk about the
exposures that you’ve had in the industry, such as
museum or institution exhibits, galleries, trade
fairs, and awards or honours that you’ve received.