I fully realize that, despite my writing in the last post, we as artists are not left with many options. I hear a lot of rhetoric about not donating your artwork to auctions because of what it does to the market--and, while I don't disagree that this can be damaging to the market (and subsequently artists' livelihood), I'm not sure if it is the most important thing to take a stance on.
On one hand, artists are seen as people with secret talents that onlookers don't possess; a fairly common response to me telling someone that I am an artist (fully realizing that I live in a small metropolitan area) is that the person I am conversing with "can't even draw a stick figure". Another impression is that what we do is a service for other professions. I see this quite frequently in academia, believe it or not, and even amongst art and design faculty; people are forming "collaborative" projects that are simply asking students of art to serve as the art directors/designers/creative consultants for their projects. I don't think I need to tell you that this is not collaboration but hiring out labor; truly collaborative projects are developed by both groups of students and professors. One other perception of artists important to note here is the amount of money made off of our work, work that has quality that is subjective. This is, undoubtedly, connected to the perception that artists are esoteric and/or pretentious, especially to the population that feels like they do not understand contemporary art (or, even, older forms of art) and are purely a part of the upper class of society.
On the other, I want to speak to my experience in particular and know that some might overlap with other's opinions or experiences, and some might not. As an artist, I have worked at earning an academic position that requires me to be a professional artist by submitting to exhibitions, participating in conferences, and being reviewed--in a number of possible forms--by my peers. I have not, in any way, been approached by high-end galleries and do not sell my work for a lot of money. Whenever I have worked with a gallery or consultant, for a juried exhibition or with representation, I have discussed the issue of price for my work and try to keep retail price in line with my own vision as much as I can, but I also know that other professionals (particularly those involved in the selling of artwork by individual, living artists) have a better understanding than I do about the worth of a painting.
What is implied here, though, is that I have an understanding of the professional that I am working with--where they are coming from, what their priorities are, what their intention and purpose is as it manifests itself through their organization. These organizations and/or businesses require a certain amount of money to function and work, something that I can only begin to imagine; and much like making paintings, I think artists often tend towards thinking that running a gallery is easy without taking the entire context into account, let alone thinking that gallerists or consultants should make a profit off of what they do. I know that there are conniving, manipulative, and greedy gallerists out there but I have been fortunate to not converse with one; who we work with has the potential, though, to be just as important as wether or not we donate work to auctions. Good gallerists are aware of political issues, where their money is coming from, and where their artwork is going, and should not hesitate to communicate with artists if something is potentially of concern--artists, however, have to be something other than seeking money to make good decisions (and moral decisions) when it comes to selling work, either on your own or with another professional.
I am still constructing this argument, to a certain extent, but want to offer some alternatives. There are, without a doubt, high quality professionals and businesses involved in the selling of artwork that fit within these (and the unformed ones in my mind) parameters; nor am I proposing that professionals live on less money, as I don't believe that this is truly the issue--there will always be the upper class, and if that person has started a lucrative business, I'm not here to say they shouldn't have or tell them what they should do with their money. I do see, however, artists and gallerists who are clearly invested in a sustainable culture of art, and are being proactive about selling work and working with artists for the sake of visual art persisting over time. Reckless and irresponsible behavior--artificially inflating prices, selling to collectors and companies with questionable histories, and being profit-driven in a short term sense is wrong--and will undoubtedly affect the work of an artist negatively. Artists could, in a sort of theoretical and gloomy way of thinking, become mechanized workers making art for these profit driven machines.
These traits are not always easy to detect, but just take a practical approach. Do you agree with the gallerist, their track record, and the mission of the gallery? I am also not suggesting that we should all lower our expectations in the quality of venues that we work with. I do think we could radically rethink the ideas of where the art market is and if/how a gallery can be profitable in other geographical locations, but this is contextually a fairly large issue, and will need lots of minds working on it. While other businesses have successfully brought things like sushi, newspapers, and other formerly regional offerings throughout the country (I am always surprised at the number of people in Iowa who get the Sunday New York Times, despite the public knowledge that it is increasingly difficult to be successful in print journalism and publications), but art has not been one; if there are large scale art collectors in the Midwest, for example, they tend to head to the coasts with a large part of their art buying budget.
I frequently come back to the idea, though, that artists need to take responsibility for themselves as workers and producers in the market. Perhaps we always do--and I am out of touch with the real sides of the market--but my impression is that, at least to some extent, artists like to have a hands-off approach to selling their work and would rather someone else handle the business and market. I can understand this completely--it can be a drag to be out of the studio and constructing a website or answering emails. The point I want to emphasize, though, is that we should all agree that it is in all artists best interest to think and act proactively when it comes to the art market--not simply stay on the outside while someone else does our dirty work. It is our responsibility, because it is our labor. Without our collective attention to what is happening in the market, we risk not only having no input, but even worse, our work being exploited and commodified.
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