I think every artists feels this way, at some point in their career, what's the value of my work and how do I price it? If these questions aren't not bad enough this one is even harder, pricing someone else's artwork. So, please stop asking me because I don't know what to tell you about pricing... well I do, but who wants to be the one that burst another person's bubble. Some artists invite curators over and asked them, others just wing it. This leads to overpricing or under pricing the work. I have witness artists selling things one week for one price and the next for another. This is a bad practice!
Personally, I tried to be fair with my prices, I've always wanted to get my work out to as many people as possible hence my low prices. It helped me be able to maintain a great client list for a long time and when it was time to raise the prices (actually my dealer did) I was okay with it. I put in the time both with my status as a practicing artist and my exhibit history. I didn't come from nowhere and expect collectors to put down big bucks for my work, because I was in love with a piece of work or I put in a lot of time creating it. I hate the thought of artists struggling trying to survive but if you're not selling on the level of a Van Gogh your prices should be in his neighborhood. (just saying)!
In Ask the Art Professor, Clara Lieu writes, there are four factors that should go into pricing your work. 1) the media of the artwork, 2) the size of the work, and 3) the artist' position in the art world * this is important 4) the venue where the artwork is being exhibited. This article helps, so the next time you think about putting eight thousand dollars on a piece of work in a corner coffee shop ... please rethink it. You can read her complete article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clara-lieu/ask-the-art-professor-how-do-you-price-art_b_6830424.html
Always a tricky (and touchy) subject for artists!! Thanks for the practical advice and link to such an informative and demystifying article!
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