The Business of Art: How Long Does it Take You to Make up Your Mind?
As a shopkeeper who sees 100's of people each week, there are certain things I sometimes scratch my head and wonder about.
Like "indecision."
It seems to run rampant... like people somehow think that by choosing to eternally pospone deciding on something, they can somehow escape having to decide, at all.
Indecision is the enemy of sales, at least when you're in the Art Gallery business.
The "original" Red Dragonfly. Photo by Viola Ware
Like this fellow who came in several years ago, and fell in love with a particular artist's work. Of the course of several visits, he finally decided which pieces were perfect for him; even knew the two spots in his house where the paintings would go.
I made the big mistake (this was three years ago, now) of thinking this meant we were approaching "closing" the sale.
Silly me!
The man went away, and then came back six months later... not to buy the art (which, thankfully, was still there) but to visit "his" pieces.
This actually repeated several times, each time with just a "visit," but never a purchase. I thought maybe it was a financial issue we were dealing with (the two paintings came to about $1,250, total), but in the time he came for his "visits," this man went on two 6-week yoga retreats in Thailand, spent three months in Nepal, bought a $50,000 vintage Porsche and a number of other "non-essential" things.
Reeds at Water's Edge
Then All Hell Broke Loose...
Seeing as how the art hadn't sold in a couple of years, we arranged for the artist to come pick it up so that the Gallery wouldn't start looking "stale."
A couple of months later... our "customer" was back!
The extent to which he was all butt-hurt because the paintings were not in the gallery was almost laughable; at first because he was angry that someone had had the gall to buy "his" art... and then he was just hurt that we — as a business — didn't just keep stuff for years and years even though it didn't sell.
Naturally, he then started into a pre-amble about getting us to jump through various hoops to get the paintings back... but now it had to be at a substantial discount because the paintings actually hadn't sold; just been returned to the artist.
As it turned out, the artist had actually sold the paintings at a charity auction barely a month after getting them back, so they were no longer available.
Flower — Weed
This, of course, did not make our "friend" very happy... and he made rumblings about getting the artist to create something similar for him to consider. He backed away, however, when we let him know that such a commission would have to be prepaid in full.
Since then, he has fallen in love with a different painting here at the gallery, which he will — no doubt — also not buy before we close our doors for the final time, on June 30th.
The Scary Thing....
The scary thing — and what makes me happy to be getting out of the art business — is that this type of situation is not an isolated or unique case of gallery patron behavior.
A lot of people, it seems, treat art galleries as places where they can "visit" their own personal "art collections" that they never actually have to purchase. And it's a trend that seems to be getting more common.
Where it's going to end... I don't know.
Thanks for reading!
Red Dragonfly is a proud graduate through the @sndbox creative incubator program, part of the "Cohort 1" team of May 31st, 2018. Please support @sndbox and the @sndbox-alpha curation initiative!
The Red Dragonfly is an independent alternative art gallery located in Port Townsend, WA; showcasing edgy and unique contemporary art & handmade crafts by local and worldwide artists. All images are our own, unless otherwise credited. Where applicable, artist images used with permission.
2019.04.07
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