The Perils of Art Marketing

The Perils of Art Marketing


By: Luke galutia
originally posted on 2013-05-31
Galutia Gallery ( www.galutia.com )


Over the last year, I have had some eye opening experiences when it comes to selling my art. I discovered that not all organizations out there are for the benefit of the artist. I have been contacted via email multiple times by an organization that claims they will put together an art show for you as well as a online portfolio of your work for the humble price of $2000 to $3000 dollars, which gives full coverage of your art in the U.S. and China. These are known as “Vanity Galleries”, and they charge you high prices just display your art.

Fortunately I did my homework before submitting art to this disreputable company. What I found was pretty shocking. It turns out that the “gallery” in question was actually just a “graveyard” for art that the company collected from the artist, that never sees the light of day. The package they were selling was a scam. From what the articles I read on the web indicated, the people that they hired to promote their deal, like starting artist, and art marketers, were told to put high pressure sales on artists in order to sign them up for the contract. once they got the artist to sign on, the paintings were put in a back room and very little attempt was made to promote the artist at all. the people who worked for the company often times were so frustrated that the quit working there as it was a disillusioning experience for both the marketer and the artist alike.

The words of advice my college animation teacher, once told me, rings very true - “You need to be as innocent as a dove but wise as a serpent - or otherwise people will take advantage of you, and make them very rich while seeing nothing in return for your labor...” As an artist, it is an overwhelming experience just even trying to get your painting into a gallery, let alone, becoming a success at it. As I am sure most other artists experience this, when you get an email from what seems to be a prestigious “New York Gallery and Magazine”, your hope shoots up and you start to stumble over yourself trying to jump at the opportunity.

The emails look very convincing when you get them, and to a starting unsuspecting artist it is very misleading. Here is an example that another artist got as an email:

"Dear Mr. **********, My name is ******* ********. I am a curator and publicist based in New York City. I wanted to let you know that I really enjoy your visceral landscapes. Each piece conveys a sense of endless wonder and imagination. Your stylistic approach reminds me of reflections, memories and dreams combined with reality. I find these works to be thoughtful, moving, and I'd like to know more about them. I am contacting you on behalf of the ******** Magazine. We would like to publish a full page of your work in print and online. In addition, I also want to exhibit your work at ********* Gallery and represent your painting(s) for an entire year. We are particularly interested in the work entitled "***********", but we are open to your suggestions. This is a strong opportunity to promote and present your art in New York City.

The fee for a full year worth of promotion is $1,900 - for online & print media, publishing in our catalogue, gallery exhibition, and production costs. Here is a sample of our work: **********”

As it turns out, information on the online forums, is that the publication is a small the gallery on the 4th floor and is not easily accessible. They bill themselves as being a major gallery downtown New York, but it is in what “use to be” a major art place during the 60’s - but now is dead in the art community.

By doing just a little research I ended up saving myself ALOT of heart ache over losing my art in the void of the internet. Only a bit of a bruised ego over the deal - feeling like a sucker for getting my hopes up. Good opportunities are out there. Take heart - the universe is a friendly place, and it will bring what you need, when you need it, when you open your heart to faith. As a way of giving back to the universe and the art world, I wanted to post this as a warning to other artist whom might be struggling and looking for the big break. I wanted to give some links of where to start and blogs and information articles, that I found enlightening and helpful.

1) As a service to the arts community the company that hosts my webpage provides a searchable database of known internet art scams. You can search the names, email address, and web pages names in their search options. This is a BIG help. thanks FASO! Here is the link:

http://faso.com/art-scam/

2) Here is a really good blog I would suggest every starting artist read. The lady who produces this blog is an art marketing consultant, and she writes about online art contest contract scams. It can be found here:

http://mariabrophy.com/business-of-art/artists-beware-of-these-red-flags-in-licensing-contracts.html

She has many other great articles as well.

3) Here is another site dedicated to exposing art market scams:

http://www.artwatchdog.com/

4) Here is an article on forbes.com about art scams from China:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/abigailesman/2012/08/13/chinas-13-billion-art-fraud-and-what-it-means-for-you/

A word to the starting artists out there in internetland - be as harmless as doves, and wise as serpents. You work hard to produce wonderful creations of the Inner Mind - protect those creations by being vigilant.

- Luke galutia
2013-05-31

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luke Galutia has been in the fine arts since 1989, and has won awards for
his art. His artwork has been recognized as being cutting-edge Optical
Illusion Art, and is hosted as part of a permanent collection in the
Washington State Governor's Art Collection in the Olympia Capitol
Building.

Email: lgalutia@gmail.com
Website portfolio: www.galutia.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lukegalutia
Google+:https://google.com/+LukeGalutia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lgalutia
Linkedin: https:// www.linkedin.com/in/lukegalutia/
Tumblr: http://lgalutia.tumblr.com/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/LukeGalutia/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click Here for More Information