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| Spring's Bluebells, mixed media on canvas |
I have found, over the years, that a number of galleries (not all) are just not willing to pay artists for the paintings, prints and cards they have sold. Galleries can take from between 40 - 60% of a painting's sales price, and on top of that, a few will even charge artists for the printing of invitations for the private view as well as all that is consumed at the event. If you think about it, the artist has also paid for all the framing, the paints (which can be very expensive), the canvas and the shipping of work to the gallery. It's a huge initial outlay when there is no guarantee that your work will sell. So you would think that a gallery would appreciate that and promptly pay you. Well a number of good ones do - Smithy Gallery for example. A lot don't.
I placed the above painting at a gallery in England. After 3 months I phoned them to find out how things were going, and they told me it had sold a couple of months before. Delighted with the news, and a bit confused as to why I no one had told me, I asked when I would receive my cheque. It took another 6 months of badgering to get it out of them. How can this possibly be right?
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| Korean Tiger, Extinct, mixed media on canvas board |
These aren't isolated incidents. Card shops have to be chased repeatedly too as well as organisers of charity auctions who sold my work. I hear you saying that we should have an artist's union. We do. They don't reply to emails and calls either.
Maybe the answer is in the internet as the artists involved with the Edinburgh gallery have shown. Perhaps galleries and exhibition organisers should be legally obliged to give all artists taking part in a show one another's contact details so that we can band together as a group and stand up for ourselves as one.
Might work - I'll let you know at the end of the month.
As an artist, and now a gallery owner, I find non- or late-payment of artists completely unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteA gallery is nothing without its artists and they should be treated accordingly.
I speak to so many artists on a regular basis, and it seems to me that this happens regularly.
I wonder if artists should insist upon a contract that ensures payment by a certain time, once an exhibition has concluded.
An artist's work should always be respected by the gallery, and if it isn't, they shouldn't be dealing with them. At best, it is taking advantage and at worst it is actually stealing.
I think it is wonderful that you are taking this stand, and drawing attention to this unsavoury element.
The gallery and the artist should be in a relationship, and the only way that it is going to last and be fruitful, is if the parties are treated with respect.
I so hope you get what you are due.