All that glitters is not gold!

A thought struck me this morning as I pondered the racks of clothing items for sale - particularly the stuff with gold sequins sewn on! It struck me as very relevant to art as well. 

When you visit sales, what's on offer is very often all the items that didn't sell very well. 

Below were observations this morning - related to clothing. 

• all the very loud colours - the colours that you can spot from 50-100 feet away! Dayglo is an especially hard sell!
• all the really boring colours - the ones which make you disappear into 'neutral' walls (there was a wall of pale grey tops against a pale grey wall)
• anything which is too dominating (gold sequins anyone?)
• the very small sizes (they're often overly optimistic that the young things that are that size will shop in the same stores as me - and I'm 70!)
• the very big sizes (they still don't realise that while it's good to offer bigger sizes, it's stupid to do this for clothing that simply does not suit bigger people!)
• the special offer at a very high price - which never sold and still doesn't sell even thought they've halved the price
• too old fashioned / too contemporary - either end frequently do badly

Lots of gold sequins - UNSOLD!

Tips for Artists

If you think about it, this recipe for leftovers on the shop floor is not that dissimilar to the observations one might make at an end of an exhibition.

Very often, to make a sale you have to make people happy. They cannot walk away and ignore something they really like. I've lost count of the number of times I've thought "I would have bought that - too!" for items which have already got a red dot.

I find that what often gets left on the wall are:

"Look at me" artwork

• paintings in very bright and/or dayglo colours
• any subject matter which is very "look at me" - which is not what you want on most domestic walls because of the potential for headaches
• paintings which are far too big for most domestic settings

"Don't look at me"

• paintings which look very insipid because they are so muted
• paintings where you notice the frame more than the painting
• everything that's just plain boring (the opposite of "look at me")

Market and product prices - out of sync

• ALL the paintings which are overpriced
• ALL the paintings which are in the wrong exhibition / wrong location
• most of the paintings which looks the same as most of the other paintings i.e. they lack a clear and individual style which is attractive rather than outlandish

Next time you're in an exhibition

Here's what I do:

• walk round the exhibition
• note what has sold
• sit down and describe the characteristics of what has sold in simple visual terms + price

Next review what's left on the walls. 

• See if you can pick out the artwork which is very unlikely to sell to those that will see it.

FINALLY - Check back online after the exhibition has finished and see if your observations and assumptions match up with what has happened in reality.

I get very consistent patterns in most exhibitions I visit. 

Plus I also see lots of very good paintings which should be walking off the walls - but for the fact that the artist has not researched the market re pricing.