Contemporary Art Galleries - Business

Business

There are many operational models that galleries follow. The most common business model is that of the for-profit, privately owned gallery. This is an extremely competitive market but one that may yield great profits. As a general rule, commercial galleries do not charge admission to the public, perhaps in a nod to the egalitarian philosophies of many artists and critics and to encourage attendance, or perhaps in the interests of just good business. Instead, they profit by taking a cut of the art's sales; the exact percentage varies. Some galleries in cities like Tokyo and in New York charge the artists a flat rate per day or per week, though this is considered distasteful in some international art markets. Inevitably the business of contemporary art has in recent decades become increasingly internationalized and commercialized.

Commercial galleries often choose to represent artists exclusively, giving them the opportunity to have solo shows regularly. They usually promote the artist's shows by cultivating collectors, making press contacts, and trying to get critical reviews. Most reputable galleries absorb the cost of printing invitations to the opening, guidebooks, and other P.R. publications. Some galleries self-publish or help to arrange publishing for art books and monographs concerning their artists. They sometimes provide a stipend or otherwise ensure the artist has enough money to make ends meet. One idiosyncrasy of contemporary art galleries is their aversion to signing business contracts, although this is changing due to artists taking more control of their output and saleability through professional practice information provided by artists' associations.

Large commercial art fairs where galleries show their best artists and sell works over a period of a week or so have taken the art world by storm in recent years. The biggest of these is the Armory Show in New York (not to be confused with the famous show by the same name in 1913), which charges admission. These fairs have been criticized by artists as over-commercializing contemporary art.

There are also many not-for-profit, artist-run spaces and art-collective galleries which follow different business models, as well as vanity galleries which prey on unsavvy artists.