NEAC 2023 Annual Exhibition METRICS

It's been a long time since I reviewed the metrics of the Annual Exhibition 2023 of the New English Art Club. 

Below is a summary - essentially for those artists submitting via the Open Entry, however I think NEAC members and others will learn something new as well

New English Art Club Annual Exhibition in East Gallery, Mall Galleries

What are Metrics?

The metrics I use are numerical indicators of:

• what the exhibition comprised
• how many member / open entry artworks - and the average per artist
• how many works sold
• what price works sold for
• how performance varied between NEAC members and open artists

Below is my summary of of the metrics - the performance indicators - for the exhibition.

• number of artists exhibiting - members and open
• number of artworks exhibited - split between members and open
• number of sales of artworks - categorised by price band and split between members and open artists.

Number of artworks exhibited and exhibiting artists

399 artworks were exhibited in the 2023 annual open exhibition - across all three galleries of the Mall Galleries of which all but 14 were for sale.

Artworks included:

• paintings - in oils, acrylics, gouache, watercolour, egg tempera and distemper
• drawings - in charcoal, pastels, conte, colour pencils, graphite, ballpoint pen and mixed media
• fine art prints (very few) - etching, aquatint, wood engraving, nkjet print, 

[The exhibition of watercolour paintings by the former Prince of Wales - in the guise of AG Carrick - appears to have ceased.]

Of the 399 artworks hung in 2023

• 257 (64%) artworks for sale were by 75 (43%) members (of whom one had died in the previous year); 14 artworks by members were "not for sale" 
• 118 (29%) artworks were by 97 (55%) non-members 
• 12 (3%%) artworks were by 3 (2%) NEAC Scholars (who have been counted as non-members for the purposes of other calculations
• 14 (3.5%) artworks (by 3 deceased member artists and two living members) were not for sale and were excluded from the calculations below.

Note: 

1. Prints have been excluded from the calculations if sold as "unframed" / direct from the artist. No figures are provided for prints sold.
2. all figures subject to rounding.
3. Back in 2015 some 1,000 entries resulted in 94 paintings, drawings, prints and watercolours (i.e. 9.4%) were hung alongside the 293 works by members - so the exhibition is now showing more works from the Open Entry.

NEAC Member Artists

Of the NEAC members:

• the vast majority of living / practising artist members exhibited artwork in the exhibition
• The majority of member artists exhibiting displayed 4 artworks with a few (typically older members) only displaying one or two.
• 4 deceased members (Fred Cuming, Antony Green, Ken Howard, Dawn Sidoli) also had exhibits

In relation to sales: a very large proportion of member artists had no sales at all. The pricing section will explain some of the reasons why.

Of artists with sales, those who sold more than one artwork included:

• sold 3 artworks: Diana Calvert, Melissa Scott-Miller. 
• sold 2 artworks: June Berry, Francis Bowyer, Judith Gardner, Mary Jackson, Charles Rake, Richard Pikesley, Glyn Saunders, Sarah Spencer

Between you and me, I think the ladies have the right idea!

Artists from the Open Entry

The selectors this year were treated to another record number of submissions allowing us to indulge in picking only the very best from so many good entries. Catalogue

I'm very much not a fan of the term "record number of entries" in the introduction to the exhibition in the catalogue - without a NUMBER! Tell us how many!

Of the 97 artists from the OPEN Entry:

• 7 were members of other national societies (most of which are based at the Mall Galleries).
• Leaving 90 artists with no affiliation to a national art society
• The majority of the non-member artists only had ONE WORK selected from the open entry for the exhibition, with a few having two works.

Average artworks per artist

Member artists typically had four artworks hung. Overall the average was 3.4 artworks for sale per exhibiting member artist as some only submitted one artwork.

Similarly, the NEAC Scholars each had four artworks hung. It's certainly an opportunity to make a big positive impression which not all capitalised on.

Those artists selected via the open entry typically had just one artwork hung - with an average of 1.2 artworks per artist. 

My advice to those submitting via the open entry is to submit just one - and make it a stunner!

Artworks sold and price of artworks sold

Now for the charts! I have to confess I've been through these numbers 4 or 5 times and keep coming up with a discrepancy of 2. I've given up trying to find it since the overall numbers stay very much the same.

I'll start with the Overall Picture and then comment on the charts for NEAC and the Open Entry (which includes the NEAC Scholars artwork).

Below the yellow is sales and the burnt orange is artworks exhibited. 

NEAC 2023: Comparison of number of sales to artwork exhibited by price range

HEADLINE: irrespective of how artworks were priced and/or how good they were - most sales were priced at less than or equal to £1,500. 

I have been making this point for a very long time.  If you want to improve the chance of an artwork selling it needs to be priced at a level that the market is prepared to buy.

It's very reminiscent of what happened back in 2008.

• selling more expensive artwork during a period of economic constraint for very many households is VERY difficult
• selling more expensive artwork requires the Mall Galleries, the art societies and the individual artists to work a LOT harder at marketing and getting collectors to visit either online or in person.
• the critical issue in this type of art market is having a following and keeping them interested enough to buy!
• bottom line: effective marketing is the marketing which results in sales (i.e. more than just visitors)

I could spot artists who've changed their tack on pricing and have sold or continued to sell as a result.

Those who sold above £2,000 were typically artists with a following. A couple of examples:

• NEAC Members: Diana Armfield  RA HNEAC Hon PS - who is now 103 but can still sell a good artwork for £5k!
• Open Entry: Frances Bell RP ARSMA - who has been doing well internationally

NEAC Members: Pricing & Sales

This is what the figures for just NEAC members looked like. 

NEAC Members 2023:
Comparison of number of sales to artwork exhibited by price range

NEAC members would like to price a lot of their artwork above £2,000 - but the marketing is not working and the market is not buying. 

• overall 16% of artworks exhibited sold
• Just 6% of the artwork priced above £2,000 sold.
• 75% of the artwork sold was priced at less than or equal to £1,500.
• the most popular range of prices were between £750 and £1,500 i.e. the upper end of what I typically think of as the Affordable Artwork range.

It is, of course, not all about the numbers of artworks sold given one more expensive artwork sold equates to several less expensive. But that argument only works when the more expensive artwork is selling.....

Open Entry Pricing & Sales

This is what the figures for the Open Entry (including NEAC Scholars) look like

Those selected to exhibit are typically selling artwork which is smaller and located at the more affordable end of the artwork

• overall, 19% of artwork selected from the Open sold.
• 24% of artwork exhibited sold at a price less than or equal to £1,500
• over 40% of artwork priced at £500 or less sold (i.e. classic "impulse buy" affordable art)

In general, I find the pricing by artists selected via the Open Entry is becoming more realistic. However there are also those who are rather/very ambitious in their pricing. They  really should pay more attention to red dots when they visit the exhibition.

Overall Conclusion

The overall message from my number-crunching is a question. 

Can both NEAC and the Mall Galleries afford to have 

• so many members not selling any artwork at all in the annual exhibition?
• so much artwork priced above £2,000 not selling?
• so much wallspace taken up by people who really ought to know how to sell their art by now?

The luxury of having an exhibition of artwork which does not sell is not something that many can afford.

Clearly, the current economic context is playing its part. However, I do wonder how much support members get in relation to the selection of the artwork they submit for the people who buy art at the Mall Galleries.

If those submitting artwork via the Open Entry can deliver better numbers, there has to be scope for some improvement.