The following is a news group discussion between Dan Fox and M.Deli 

> Second tier galleries rarely own anything more than a desk and some
> picture hooks. Their only costs are rent and a few utilities. They
> rarely own any artwork as almost everything is on consignment.
> Although they sometimes print brochures for their shows and provide
> the wine and potato chips these are often paid for by the artists.
> Added to this the artist also pays thirty to fifty percent commission
> on all sales.

In fairness, most galleries must pay astronomical rents for space in
desirable areas. They must also pay staff salaries. Some have staff on
commission to get around this. Unless the gallery is really hot, you can
imagine how good those commission-only salespeople are.

Also, any legitimate gallery prints invitations (usually not brochures) at
their expense, and mails them to an extensive list. They also mail to the
artist's list. They send out press releases, write letters and email,
and make phone calls to sell work. No real gallery depends on foot traffic.
 

> t might surprise the reader to know that galleries rarely have trouble
> finding artists to fill their spaces. Art dealers are constantly
> inundated with requests to look at work by artists wishing to show.
> The lucky dealer can then get everything on consignment with no outlay
> of money. But there is a hitch. Although the dealer can find hundreds
> of artists, he rarely finds any who really sell well. The few artists
> who do manage to sell well head for the first tier.
 

True. However, many artists that sell well stay and make a good living at
galleries that are not in the top 10. You don't have to be at Mary Boone to
have a good career.
 

In spite of the
> inflation of available artists from which to choose, few second tier
> galleries make enough profit in order to last for any great length of
> time.  The result is that most second tier galleries are fly-by-night
> operations. Here today, gone tomorrow.
 

Some stay, some go. It is almost impossible to tell which is which, because
the gallery financing and income may not be at all apparent. Galleries in
which you see no foot traffic may be making a fortune selling to known
collectors.
 

> Because a large over-population of vain artists flock to galleries
> offering to consign them paintings at essentially no cost to the
> gallery, the art business sometimes amounts to little more than theft.
> I do not maintain that all galleries are shady or dishonest, but most
> artists have had some bad experiences at one time or other.

Yes. My gallery in Kansas City vanished without a trace. Phone
disconnected, home phone disconnected - gone. Fortunately, he only had two
of my paintings. To be fair, this is the only time anything bad has
happened to me in 25 years of exhibiting. It goes with the territory - no
risk, no exhibits.

Of course I have a legal consignment sheet (see comment below). I thought
of framing it as a post-modern piece.

> Many artists are often so happy to have their work accepted that they
> fail to get proper receipts. If any works sell, the gallery can, just
> keep the proceeds of the sale.  Artists frequently have to sue
> galleries and more than a few gallery owners have been known to
> vanishes with the proceeds.

These are called consignment sheets. Some galleries offer contracts, others
do it on an handshake. Both are fine (have a lawyer read the contract).
However, you MUST have a consignment sheet. This must list: each work, its
price, the dealer commission, and that the work is property of the artist
until sold. A very important point, often missed: the sheet must specify
when payment is to be made to the artist ("payment of the artist's portion
to be made in full within two weeks after the gallery receives payment",
for example)

> Now and again we see newspaper articles about such scandals. I have
> known artists who have had no end of troubles leading to lengthy
> costly lawsuits against dealers. I have also known of dealers who
> spent most of their time avoiding telephone calls from irate artists
> and dodging summons servers.

A favorite shady trick of some galleries is to collect the money from a
sale and use the artist's portion to pay the rent - putting the artist off.
Or selling work and not telling the artist. Very common practices.

There are also a lot of fraudulent exhibitions out there - I don't mean the
ripoffs where they collect entry fees for profit but still have an exhibit
- I mean illegal scams where there is no exhibit at all. Check everything
out first - save yourself a lot of misery.
 

> The root of this trouble often lies with the artists because so many
> of them prefer to live in a kind of ethereal dreamland and steadfastly
> refuse to learn anything about the business aspect of their
> profession. Many are ripe to be fleeced by unscrupulous dealers.

> Mani DeLi
> ...no skill no art
>
> Check out my web page, A Skeptical View of Modern Art and
> my book, comments, work at:.
>    https://www.interlog.com/~hugod/
 

Yep. You MUST learn some basics about selling art. However, you must take
risks to be exhibited - just try to minimize them.

Dan

'The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.' - Blake

https://www.danfoxart.com