I like it, can I buy it?
Art doesn’t sell itself — marketers listen up
“Although there can be no doubt that it has been a general art seller’s market since the mid-1990's, we are on the cusp of change. The favorable art market planets won’t stay aligned forever. It would be a brave market analyst indeed who would predict over the next five years a continuation of the same seller’s market.” — Michael Reid (2004) “How to Buy and Sell Art”
This was nearly a decade ago, and indeed the market has changed substantially. If we look into the history of art selling, we begin to see a trend. Sales were oriented around the wealthy and specialist buyers in the 19th century, where buyers were either educated profusely on the art they were buying, or had enough wealth and power to collect the prime artists of their time. Simon Francescato (2010), in his book “Collecting and appreciating: Henry James and the transformation of aesthetics in the age of consumption,” identifies two types of individuals which Henry James wrote about between the 1870's and 1920'’s, during the emergence of this so-called “culture of consumption” — the collectors and the appreciators.
In James’ novels, the dialogue between the two showed how collectors and appreciators were worlds apart from one another and indeed the former was mostly in opposition with the latter. This dichotomy still exists today between appreciation and consumption, where consuming and commercializing art is often looked down upon.
If we look into the deeper meaning of the word, the economic meaning of consumption stands for “the satisfaction of needs through the object,” whereas the etymological meaning of consumption in fact stands for “the action of the destruction of the object.” (Francescato, 2010) John Ruskin, an English art critic of the 19th century, believed that the consumption of art hindered the genuine process of appreciating art. No wonder there is a disconnect in the rhythms of art sales today, so much so that sellers sometimes use the word de-accessoning rather than selling. Quoi? I want to buy things, not de-accessonize them. Sticking to this froufrou way of selling art, and not putting prices on art works affects how potential buyers perceive the arts and art exhibitions, creating a conflict between whether art serves the main purpose for either spectating, buying or collecting.
Many people believe that buying original art is either sometimes too expensive, or not for them. Art is not only for the rich, and it is not always expensive. It seems as if the traditional positioning of the art gallery is stuck in the mid and late 20th century, when the consumption of art was for the wealthy, and middle classes would go antiquing on the weekend. This has impacted gallery’s positioning in the market, where the features you’ll find in the art gallery today still seem traditional, old-fashioned, and outdated. Focusing on this target audience leaves no room for creating awareness across a larger spectrum of consumers.
So what to do?
Today, consumers have higher expectations of salespeople and their organisations, and they are more oriented to seeking the specific value propositions offered in purchasing artworks, rather than their mere availability. Daniel Horowitz identified a shift, primarily in American context, regarding how the art market is moving from “self-control to self-realization, from the world of the producer, based on the value of self-denial and achievement, to a consumer culture that emphasized immediate satisfaction and the fulfillment of the self through gratification and indulgence.” This is very different from the past, where immediate satisfaction was not at all part of the cultural forefront of society. Francescato states, “Being is no longer with doing, but with having.” That’s great and all but the changes in today’s consumerism is beyond having — it is now also about sharing, interacting and experiencing, almost synchronically with breathing. It is the age of innovation, the digital age, the social media playground, where consumers are consuming, buying, tweeting, reporting, creating and rating — so give them that chance to do so in the realm of fine arts as well.
These changes in consumerism should motivate art galleries to reposition themselves, and create the necessary tools to combine digital and physical/tangible components under one roof. Why is it that fine art hasn’t taken clues from the art of retailing? Why suffer for the sake of art? Blatantly selling art does not destroy the art or by any means taint the artist — it is a purchase experience that should be praised.
It’s about time for an evolution.
If you are interested in this further, you can contact me for a list of solutions when it comes to selling your art. Don’t be surprised if I start to mix in the words brand development and experiential marketing into your cheerios.
Inna Ulanova — Strategist on the move.
@ulanovic
