Sunday, January 4, 2009

Gallery commission

The Artspost Gallery where I have some sculptures told me they take 40% commission which in my language means they put 40% on my price and keep it when the piece is sold. If I want $3000 the sale price is $4200 and they keep the $1200. But no. They take 40% of the sale price so put 40% on my price and then take 40% off the inflated price. 40% of $4200 is $1680 which leaves me with $4200 - $1680 = $2520. So to give me my $3000 they put 67% commission on..... $3000 x 67% = $5000.... 40% of $5000 = $2000.
Now I still get my $3000 but I think it is deceitful to say they only charge 40% and it inflates all their prices so less art is sold.
We don't take any commission at the restaurant because we like to have changing art on the walls, it helps the artist and it keeps the prices down. We have sold 10 paintings since we opened in October which doesn't sound a lot but in these hard economic times it's not bad.
A local artist, Annabel Nesbit, opened her exhibition of landscapes yesterday and we bought one, not only because we liked it but she needed money for more canvases.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, it is great to hear words from a straight up creative person. Cool blog and I dig your work.

chook said...

Thanks fucoid, praise indeed coming from an artist such as yourself!

Anonymous said...

so much calculation!!!i don't know the exact scenario but i guess you are doing good in terms of material success..this is the situation of most of the creative people nowadays...calculations and deceits are inevitable in creative world also..thank God! u r not in India...

chook said...

So much calculation! The answer from the gallery is that she doesn't understand the mathmatics, she just does what the spreadsheet tells her! Slave to the machine!!!
As to material success Shubhajit I follow a great line of artists before me, it sometimes pays for my materials and I'm torn between not giving a damn and wanting to be paid like any other mechanic, plumber or builder.