Online images of paintings NEVER accurately depict them because no matter how good the process is putting them up online, they’re still reduced to the web’s 72dpi and every monitor shows them differently. Every time I put a painting image up even in an email, I remind people that what they’re seeing on their monitor will look somewhat different from the original. Unless you can control what monitors people are using, you can never totally control the way your art will look online. We see our website as a brochure for the gallery. Most of our buyers have either been in our gallery or some of our other artists’ works in person somewhere else, then found us online. Sometimes why we get the sale is as simple as we give excellent customer service and the word spreads.
]]>I would think it depends somewhat on the art you are viewing. Some art translates well into a flattened online image. Some doesn’t. You can’t really get an understanding of scale or a sense of in the round with sculpture online. Some paintings lose textures in translation from reality to digital. And color matching isn’t always exact. That’s why seeing the real thing will still be better (at least for now) than seeing the digital image of it (unless it was created in a digital format to begin with, but that’s a whole ‘nother discussion).
]]>I think it also has to do with confidence in what you’re doing, understanding the worth of your art. Artists are in general very sensitive people. Many are insecure. It’s not exactly the easiest line of work to succeed in when an economy is down, but it can be done, and integrity is at the foundation of lasting success. I love what you’ve expressed. In my artist’s statement, I’ve kept one paragraph the same for many years:
“People, other artists, often ask me how I do this or do that. I can’t tell them how to do what I do, because with me it’s not so technical. My advice to artists — people in all walks of life — is to reach deeply within your own heart and soul, then employ what you find in your work. Technique only takes you so far. Great art is honest art. Genuine art resonates.”
I was talking to an artist on the West Coast yesterday, 3000 miles from my gallery, who has been selling to galleries across the country for years and does not do any retail. They’re still in business, but they’re having to be much more accomodating. It’s not just where you are; it’s everywhere. Art is slow. People are scared. It will improve.
He sells a handmade, entirely American made, product that is useful, different kinds of lighting. Those things usually sell consistently because they have a practical purpose. He has a variety of lines. Now stores that used to carry all his lines are carrying maybe one line and ordering in very small quantities.
When I opened my gallery, most American artisans had fairly high minimum orders to make it worth their while with billing and packing and shipping, plus production. Now, I can order basically anything I want one at a time with a lot of artists because their sales are so slow.
Until banks loosen their hold on their stockpiles of money and start lending to people who want to buy homes more easily (NOT like they were before, but with more normal requirements) and the housing market improves and start lending to small businesses again, I don’t know how the economy, i.e. galleries can succeed to the degree they were when middle class people either had money to spend or weren’t afraid to spend some of what they have.
A gallery owner in a town near me that I’ve been thinking would be a better location for my gallery called me the other day to see how I was doing. It turns out her gallery, which is about six times bigger than mine in a prime location is doing less than mine! When you’re struggling you look across the fence where the grass looks greener, but when you stand right on top of it you can see the bare patches between the green.
Keep looking for new galleries. It will get better.