Pricing Your Art Just Right
by Alan Bamberger
http://www.artbusiness.com
Pricing your art is one of the most difficult aspects of being an artist. You must somehow divorce yourself from everything your creations mean to you personally and view them in a cold commercial light. As if that's not enough of an indignity, you then must mentally hang them next to all the other art out there, assess how them compare, determine why they should cost more than some and less than others, consider what your collectors can afford, an come up with a sensible price structure. I'm on this topic because I recently attended an art opening that was a little out of the ordinary. The weird part about this two person show was that one artist's prices were way too high and the other's were way too low. The expensive artist's prices ranged into the mid-thousands; all pieces were large in scale, with nothing available for less than $3,000. The other artist's prices topped out in the mid hundreds, and a variety of sizes and kinds of artwork was available, with some as cheap as $10. The show was at a trendy gallery that hasn't been in business very long; the majority of people at the opening were under 30 and probably not rolling money - art lovers rather than art collectors. Both artists were good, but their art had an edge which limited its appeal to the overall art community. The expensive artist's prices were too high for most of his audience to be able to afford. To complicate matters, his art was also too large to hang in most rooms. By requiring his collectors to have plenty of money as well as plenty of space, he severely limited his market. None of his art had sold.
The situation was the opposite for the artist. In the 45 minutes I was at the opening, a number of his pieces sold. His problem wasn't placing art, but rather saturating his market. For relatively modest amounts of money, collectors could feel satisfied that they owned enough work and did not need to buy any more.
Both artists need to reevaluate their pricing strategies. By holding them at current levels, the first would continue to sell little or nothing. The other would quickly satisfy all those who appreciate his art and, over the long haul, work himself into a predicament where sales would gradually fall off or end up being minimal.
Here are some general tips on pricing.
- Idealism and principles are nice, but you need income in order to make a living as an artist. Be flexible and compromise when necessary, not only with respect to pricing, but also to demands of the marketplace. And don't view acquiescing to various marketplace demands as selling out; you're making career adjustments in order to survive.
- Keep prices reasonable. You don't want to stifle your collector base or prevent if form developing or growing. However, keep prices high enough so that you don't easily satisfy your collector bas an preclude their needs to buy any further art.
- Consider your market when pricing. If the bulk of your potential patrons are in the lower income categories, for instance, make sure they can afford at least something you produce. Better yet, make sure the bulk of your art is geared towards that market. For collectors who have the ability to spend larger sums, have a selection of major works available. In brief, have something for everyone.
- Let your fans help you decide how much your work should sell for. Consider verbal as well as nonverbal responses to seeing or hearing your prices for the first time. This doesn't mean that you instantly change whenever someone tells you or indicates that your prices are too high or too low, but rather that you remain aware of their feedback on a continuing basis. I've had a number of artists tell me how affordable their work is when I can't even begin to afford it, and I'm thinking to myself, "From whose point of reference?"
- Unless you suddenly find yourself in the spotlight with people lining up to buy your work, keep price increases reasonable. You don't want to price your most faithful fans and long-term collectors of the market. They're the core of your support.
- Make the step up between the inexpensively priced pieces an the more expensive ones very clear. This doesn't mean the less expensive pieces should be rejects. Quite the contrary. They should be enticements to buy the more expensive ones - indications of how good you can really. Put collectors in positions of desire. Make sure those little pieces serve as constant reminders of what they can really own if they decide to spend more money.
- Don't confuse money with the quality, significance, or fame. Whether you price a piece of art at $100 or $100,000, it's still the same piece of art. Attaching abstract meanings to various dollar values is a sure-fire way to reduce your sales.
- If under any circumstances you make an isolated sale for substantially more money than you ordinarily sell for, do not immediately raise all selling prices to that level. Let average selling prices control your structure, not exceptional ones.
- Be able to justify your prices whenever anyone asks. People are always concerned about getting good value for money spent these days. Base your explanations on facts like how many pieces you've sold and at what prices, the selling prices of work by artists with comparable exhibition experience, and how much time and overhead are involved in creating and producing your art.
Copyright 1995 Alan Bamberger
Alan Bamberger is a nationally syndicated columnist. He will answer subscriber's question about business, art marketing, an other career related issues - send your questions to him at 2510 Bush St., San Francisco, CA 94115, e-mail him c/o alanb@sirius.com
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