Paying Gallery Commissions

Quit griping about paying gallery commissions. 

I frequently hear some iteration of ‘why should I give a gallery 50% of my profit?

I’m here to tell you why. Basically, few of us have the wherewithal to make art and to effectively market art. It’s a different set of skills entirely. The rules of commerce are different than the rules of making art.

If you don’t agree with galleries taking a percentage, then the simple solution is don’t seek gallery representation. No one is forcing you to be in a gallery. But please remember in order to reap 100% from selling your work, you must do 100% of creating the art AND marketing yourself.

While the internet is making it easier to connect with potential buyers, it’s still a lot of work to do so. There are many reasons to seek gallery representation.

• Leave it to the experts to negotiate the sale as they are emotionally un-attached
• Gallerists know the market and offer expertise on pricing
• Provide wider exposure to different markets
• Cultivate and introduce you to collectors
• Adds credibility to your work.
• Achieve more sales and financial stability
• Leaving more time to do what you do best, make art.
• Galleries are actively engaged in selling work on a daily basis
• Handles promotion, marketing, sales
• Takes care all the sale details and delivery logistics

Galleries have overhead that you don’t have (or want) as an artist. The gallery owner has to pay utilities, staff, rent (or property tax), shipping, exhibit promotion, marketing, and insurance….to name just a few. Think of your art as a product (yep, I just said that), just like toothpaste. Crest specializes in making the product and the store specializes in getting people physically into their stores or on their website to buy.

As artists we need to shift our mindset that we are giving away 50% (or 40% or 25%) of the profits by agreeing to a gallery commission. We should price our work so the wholesale price is enough to cover our costs and our profit margin. Think of it as a commission must be built into every piece and someone always gets the commission. If you sell a piece directly, then you get the sales commission. If a gallery sells a piece, then the gallery gets the sales commission. There is always a cost to making a sale. You may think that it doesn’t cost anything for you to make the sale, but oh, it does. There is an opportunity cost to you based on your time away from making more art. If you are engaged in selling a piece you are not in the studio creating more art.

Galleries are usually privately-owned AND for-profit. The artist-gallery relationship is a business partnership. A relationship established with mutual financial benefits in mind—partnerships and are supposed to be a win-win situation. Play to your skill set and create the art. Let the gallerist use his/her business acumen to get your work sold. You should be doing everything in your power to strengthen the relationship with your gallery and they should be doing everything in their power to provide you and their clients value.

Most of the people I hear griping that the split is unfair are artists who aren’t represented in a gallery. They either hear other artists complaining or they’ve had bad experiences with a gallery. The expressed frustration often spurs an ‘us vs. them’ mentality where galleries are being described as parasites and a waste of time.

Make sure you are clear with your prospective gallery what they will do to earn their commission.  Some galleries simply wait for someone to stagger in off the street and buy something. It has to be more than just to let you decorate their walls. In instances like this I would agree, why should you give the gallery a commission?

If you feel like your gallery isn’t working very hard at the relationship with you, then look at severing that relationship. If the gallery is lackadaisical in their marketing efforts, has poor communications, is slow to pay, then it’s not worth it and you should sever your relationship with them.

But if your gallery is doing a great job of promoting you and your work is selling, then the commission you pay them is worth every penny. And you should do all you can to protect that relationship by never undercutting your work outside of the gallery.

I had an opening recently at a local gallery where I had just hung my work. My brother told one of his colleagues about the show and she came out for the artist reception. Two days later she emailed me that she couldn’t get one of the images out of her head and would I bring it over to see where it might fit into her place. I picked up the piece from the gallery and brought it to her house. We found the perfect spot for it in her entryway. She wanted to pay me directly, and some may argue that the gallery didn’t do anything for the sale. But the gallery is showing 11 other pieces of my work. My art is being seen. There was no way I was going to undercut the gallery. I was actually thrilled to bring a sale to the gallery after my work was only hanging for 4-days. To me, it solidified my relationship with the gallery owner that I was an artist she could promote, and the work will sell.

Be aware though that the gallery world is changing. Many galleries have gone to other business models. Some are charging for wall space, some fund their operations with calls for entries, and others expect the artists to market any shows themselves, in additional to paying for postcards and refreshments. This is the new ‘pay to play’ system. If this is the case, I agree, there shouldn’t be the traditional commission split.

Know what kind of relationship you are getting into with your gallery. To protect yourself, consider including in your contract with the gallery that you expect payment within 30 days of the sale, that they are not allowed to offer discounts over 10% without having contacted you first, that you have the ability to switch out work after a specific number of months, and that your work actually hangs for most of the time on the walls and is not in a back closet or loaned out without your consent.

I think we would all like to make more from our work. But stop complaining about the percentages. Find a gallery that you trust and will treat you honestly. Honor the relationship. And remember the gallery doesn’t make a cent unless something sells since they work on a 100% commission. Make good art, and work with your gallery to get rich together!

There are lots of horror stories about working with galleries, I want to know your positive stories. Post them below.

Be well….be creative,