Selling art online – an opportunity not only for young artists

The era of great patrons is over

throughout their life Living from art must somehow finance this life. Since the era of the great patrons is over (or artists no longer wish to serve a master for life), they usually do this by selling their art to private art lovers or, if they are in high demand and well-known, to the buyers appointed to spend public funds on art.

To sell well and make a living, an artist needs to achieve a certain level of recognition. This is normally accomplished by exhibiting their work, either in privately run galleries or in museums or other exhibition centers operated by public institutions.

Galleries primarily , charge accordingly. Typically, the gallery owner receives a share of the price the artist earns from their work through the gallery exhibition.

This share usually ranges up to about 30 percent, but for this salary the gallery owner does a lot: He provides the exhibition spaces and keeps them in good order, he carries out a whole range of advertising activities, and depending on the contract he takes on many other tasks from the sensitive hanging of the pictures to shipping.

The gallery owner's share can be even higher, but then he will also include extraordinary activities such as presenting the artist at trade fairs or other events among his duties.

In any case, the gallery owner knows his artist and his works; the traditional gallery owner is also enthusiastically devoted to his artist. And he knows which groups and individuals might be interested in precisely this artist; he has contact with them or is skilled at establishing such contact.

The art market is undergoing fundamental change

is currently taking place in our societies a fundamental change, and the art world is not immune to this: More and more money is being concentrated in the hands of a few people or companies who did not necessarily grow up with a genuine interest in art, but rather buy artto use it as a status symbol.

This leads to an increasing polarization of the art market; a few well-known artists, praised by publications and their rankings, are marketed with enormous effort and bought in incomprehensible quantities by a few extremely solvent private buyers or large corporations.

And so the old, enthusiasm-driven gallery owners are also dwindling, new sales galleries are emerging that represent every artist who has managed to achieve a higher position in the relevant rankings, and that rely more on international language skills and a charming and well-groomed demeanor and appearance in their sales staff than on individually acquired art knowledge.

No, not all galleries are like that. There are still plenty of traditional gallery owners, art-loving and hardworking free spirits in this field, just as there are still banks that manage money for clients and don't risk it on stock market speculation that drives the prices of basic necessities to unaffordable levels.

even in such times successfully market themselves. But there are fewer and fewer of both, and the work-oriented artist needs more and more time to find a gallerist who they feel will genuinely and appropriately represent them.

This critical situation in the art market is partially mitigated by public institutions that also give young artists a chance to make a living from their art. But the people who make selections for these institutions have to be guided by market forces, and many artists have been complaining for quite some time that this guidance is too closely tied to the market, that the institutions are increasingly abandoning art to the market.

Certainly, not all public institutions operate this way, and they remain extremely important nonetheless, but they only help the artist with sales if one can buy his works somewhere, and the artist at the beginning of his career usually does not yet have a sales representation.

A new way to sell art

Today there is a way to sell artthat keeps pace with the times and still gives a chance to young artists or those not yet known through the media: selling art online.

What makes this sales platform unique for the artist is , first and foremost, its refreshing simplicity : All they need is a good image of their work, a compelling description written by themselves or a professional copywriter, and a computer with an internet connection – which can even be at a friend's house. That's it. And just like that, you're in the age of online art.

Further crucial advantages for artists of online art are that they can reach people far beyond their immediate surroundings and that they can pocket the vast majority of the money a fan spends on their work. A reputable art platform or online gallery will never demand the same commission as a traditional gallery; they understand that this is a completely new form of presentation , not as personal as in a gallery setting, and therefore not deserving of the same share of the proceeds.

However, the operator is aware of the possibilities of such a presentation and is confident that he will not be shortchanged even if he only charges the artist a very small percentage or nothing at all except for a tiny listing fee.

He knows that an art platform large sales figures because it is quite different whether a work of art is to be sold in the art barn of X-Dorf (8,600 inhabitants) or whether the worldwide internet community (over 1 billion people) can potentially view and buy the artwork.

He often uses advertising on the site to keep the ancillary costs for sellers and buyers even lower; in the case of a platform for aspiring artists, the internet once again proves to be a tool in a democratic redistribution process, because it is the large corporations that co-finance this platform through their advertising.

If you are an artist looking for a way to quickly gain location-independent recognition for your work, selling art online is certainly a path you should consider.

Here's biggest advantages of online galleries an overview

• simplicity
• Enormous range
• Using new media = reaching new target groups
• Low fees
• Location independence
• Time saving

What do I need to pay attention to as an artist?

When choosing your partner, you should pay attention to the following characteristics: The website should offer only art, not an indistinguishable jumble of art, crafts, and mass-produced items where it's impossible to distinguish the individually crafted pieces. Within the art category, the selection should remain as unrestricted as possible so that as many different people as possible have the opportunity to discover your art.

Transparent and secure processing is a given, as is direct personal access to the operator(s), who should be clearly identifiable.

What advantages does this offer art buyers?

All these features also benefit you as an art buyer. But the best thing about this new way of buying art is certainly that you also save money, because art can be offered more affordably independently of a gallery.

The fact that you can shop for art here in peace and quiet from your sofa, without being scrutinized by sales staff or other buyers, certainly helps with the selection process and new discoveries. Furthermore, you can access a selection online that would require visiting many galleries; not everyone has that much free time.

Ultimately, as an art enthusiast, potential buyer or art dealer, you can easily make a preliminary selection conveniently on your computer screen and then get in touch with the relevant artists personally.

Don't waste any time!

Give it a try! Buying and selling art online is one of the exciting new options our time offers! Try out an online gallery like Kunstplaza !

Lina Sahne

Passionate author with a keen interest in art

www.kunstplaza.de

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