Product Description

The most comprehensive guide of its kind, Art/Work gives artists of every level the tools they need to make it in an art world so competitive one dealer likens it to "The Sopranos, except nobody gets killed." Whether you're an art school grad looking for a gallery, a mid-career artist managing a busy studio, or someone just thinking about becoming a professional artist, this indispensable resource will help you build your career and protect yourself along the way.

Unlike other creative professionals, visual artists don't have agents or managers. You have to do it all yourself, at least until you find gallery representation -- and even then, there are important business and legal issues you need to understand to stay in control of your career and ensure you're being treated fairly. Heather Darcy Bhandari, a gallery director, and Jonathan Melber, an arts lawyer, walk you through these issues so that you can essentially act as your own manager and agent. They show you, for example, how to tackle business basics such as tracking inventory and preparing invoices; how to take legal precautions like registering a copyright and drafting consignment forms; how to use promotional tools like websites and business cards; and how to approach career decisions such as choosing the right venue to show your work.

In addition to drawing on their own experiences, Bhandari and Melber interviewed nearly one hundred curators, dealers, and other arts professionals, in cities across the country, about what they expect from and look for in artists. The authors also talked to a host of artists about their careers and the lessons they've learned navigating the art world. The book is full of their entertaining anecdotes and candid advice.

No matter what kind of artist you are -- or want to be -- this book will help you. Art/Work covers everything you need to know to succeed, saving you from having to learn it all the hard way -- and letting you spend more time making art.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27802 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781416572336
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"This book is a godsend...it should be required reading in fine arts curricula."-- Santa Fe New Mexican

"I'll bet this powerful little paperback finds a permanent home on the list of best business books for artists.... The contract, invoice and inventory templates alone are worth the cover price."-- The Artist's Magazine

"Together [the authors] make for a powerful combo, offering both extensive knowledge of the gallery system and the ins and outs of art law, for some well-founded tips on how to succeed in the art world...it's the perfect gift for anyone working in a creative field."-- CoolHunting.com

"This book is filled with the kind of nuts-and-bolts business advice every artist needs to read."-- ArtBistro.com

"Bhandari and Melber, both Brown University graduates, have drawn on their own experiences and interviews with 100 curators, dealers, and other arts professionals to offer advice on everything from preparing artwork for shipping to coping with rejection."-- Boston Globe

"Emerging curators, along with established curators who work with living artists, would do well to read it, as would art dealers and workers at nonprofit spaces or organizations.... One unique aspect of the book is the quotes in the margin -- from high-profile artists and well-known professionals who've been around the block. Shamim Momin from the Whitney Museum and Peter Eleey of the Walker Art Center talk about how they meet new artists and visit their studios, and Seattle gallerist James Harris underscores the importance artists' websites have when he looks for new work to show."-- College Art Association News

"...even those who have no interest in the art world may find Art/Work of use. Their instructions on how to pack objects for example, are so thorough, only the most dexterously challenged will find difficulty executing them. What's more, should this book reach the majority of working artists today, the quality of gallery staff life would improve by a level of magnitude..."-- Paddy Johnson for The L Magazine

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
CHAPTER 1

The Big Picture

The art world is full of people who like saying "there are no rules in the art world," which is only sort of true. There's certainly nothing written in stone (there's barely anything written on paper). And sure, what you do in the studio is entirely up to you; there aren't any rules about what you choose to make or how you make it. But there are general customs in the art world, and widespread expectations among arts professionals, which you should know before you head out of the studio and start meeting these people.

The customs have changed, too. It used to be a given, for example, that you would need many years of studio time before a gallery would look at your work. Today, galleries compete over the newest talent to come out of school, even trying to scoop up MFA students before they've graduated. That's not to say everyone is ready for a commercial gallery, by the way. Pressure to sell can stifle development, especially at the beginning of a career. But because there's a real possibility to sell work as an emerging artist, you have to confront issues, and understand how the art world works, in a way that emerging artists never had to before.

Of course, you don't have to follow custom or accept other people's expectations. We're not prescribing a bunch of rules that you need to follow. If you want to buck the system, go right ahead. Do the wrong thing. Just do it on purpose, not by accident, and know why you're doing it.

Also, what worked for someone else may not work for you. You have to weigh the information and recommendations in this book according to your personality, your goals, your art. Aiming for a big New York gallery, for example, is very different from establishing a regional practice in a smaller city or trying to survive on direct sales from your studio. No priority is better or worse -- it's your definition of success that matters and no one else's -- and each one calls for a different approach.

Who are we to be telling you all this? One of us is a gallery director, the other an arts lawyer. We've been close friends since the beginning of college. As is true of most arts professionals, we do what we do because we love art and we love artists. We've both been in New York for a decade, and over the years a lot of our artist friends have asked us a lot of the same questions -- about career choices, business issues, and legal problems.

"When you look at the history of art, you see a history of mavericks -- people doing the wrong thing. I wish that I saw more artists doing the wrong thing. That's really more in the spirit of art that I love."

Fred Tomaselli, artist, Brooklyn, N.Y.

After a while, something obvious (in hindsight) dawned on us. Unlike other creative professionals, artists don't have agents or managers to deal with these issues for them. They have to do it all themselves, at least until they're very successful. Galleries are supposed to act like agents for their artists, but not all of them live up to that standard. And even the best ones still have to balance the needs of their artists with the desires of their collectors -- a conflict of interest that simply doesn't exist for agents in other creative fields.

So we thought it would be useful to write a book that tells artists how to act as their own agents and managers -- a book that answers all those questions people keep asking us.

We knew that the only way to do these topics any justice was to find out what other arts professionals had to say about them. We interviewed nearly one hundred people across the country -- gallerists, curators, accountants, lawyers, and, of course, artists -- and spent the better part of a year synthesizing their opinions, and ours, into the book you're reading now. And because we also wanted you to hear these people in their own words, we have included quotes of theirs throughout the book. The quotes represent the most commonly held -- and occasionally diverging -- views in the art world.

Quick Tour of the Art World

There are a lot of people in the art world who play crucial roles in how your art is made, shown, understood, sold, and remembered. First, there are all the people who can help you develop your art, your ideas, and your goals: other artists, your former professors, the directors and staff at residencies and foundations that support artists.

There are the framers, printers, fabricators, and other production people whose skills you may need to tap (or learn) to finish your work.

Curators choose the work for group and solo exhibitions. They usually have an academic background, with a master's or PhD in art history or curatorial studies. The ones on staff at museums or nonprofits are called institutional curators.

Independent curators freelance, putting together their own exhibitions or collaborating with museums, galleries, nonprofits, and alternative spaces. There are also private curators who work for corporations or big collectors, maintaining and developing their collections.

Art advisors and art consultants help private collectors, corporations, and institutions buy work, for either a fee or a percentage of the work's price. Some of them focus on emerging artists and may want to visit your studio or introduce you to their clients.

Dealers show your work and try to sell it. They tend to specialize in either the primary art market, meaning art sold for the first time, or the secondary art market, meaning resale. Primary market dealers represent living artists and manage their careers. Secondary market dealers help sell work that's already been bought at least once. They don't usually work with artists; they deal directly with collectors and other dealers.

Many dealers call themselves gallerists, to emphasize their roles as curators, managers, and producers. Others stick with "dealer" because they don't want to downplay the commercial aspect of selling art. (We'll use the term gallerist throughout this book, although we think the distinction is only as meaningful as you want it to be.)

Most galleries have some kind of gallery staff to help run the space. They may organize their staff by task or by artist. The main tasks include:

Sales: staying in touch with collectors, finding new collectors, previewing your work, describing it to visitors, following up with leads, handling sales transactions.

Curator: selecting artists for the program, selecting work for shows, organizing and installing shows, preparing written materials for shows, applying to art fairs.

Artist support: keeping in touch with you, helping you with whatever you need, advising you on career decisions such as applying to residencies, running your studio, and participating in shows in other cities.

Registrar: tracking the location, condition, price, and status of every work that moves through the gallery; filling out, negotiating, and enforcing consignment agreements; overseeing shipping.

Art handler (or "preparator"): packing, shipping, and storing the work that moves through the gallery; installing shows.

Archivist: cataloging all your images, press, and written materials.

Bookkeeper: accounting, paying the bills.

Gallerina: greeting visitors, answering phones, administrative tasks. (Yes, the guys are called "gallerinas," too.)

Gallery manager: basically the head of operations, managing the space and equipment.

Press person: following up with story leads, distributing press releases.

Director: overseeing everything and every one, reporting to the owner.

"The art world is not the monolithic monster it can seem to be. Sure, it has a lot of monstrous parts, but it's just people with different interests and viewpoints. As an artist, you are one part, and you decide how you interact with the rest. It's not 'your work meets the art world monster.'"

Bill Davenport, artist and critic, Houston

In small galleries, the owner might do everything. Larger galleries have several directors and may employee dozens of people.

Then there are a whole bunch of people whom you may come across but not work with directly:

Art critics write about shows -- if you're lucky they'll write about yours. Whereas their job is obviously to assess the art they see, there are also reporters and bloggers who cover the art world from a news or personal perspective. (And, of course, the publishers and their staffs at art magazines and newspapers.)

Art fair directors and their staffs manage the numerous art fairs that take place around the world every year.

The basic function of auction houses is to take work from collectors looking to sell and auction it to the highest bidder, for a percentage of the final sale price. They also provide services for collectors such as valuation, placement, and private sales. Some have expanded their role into traditional gallery terrain -- not necessarily to the delight of gallerists -- showcasing new work and making primary art market sales.

Where You Come In

No matter where you are in your career, we think you will find this book helpful. It covers everything from tracking your inventory to installing a show; from designing your website to drafting an invoice; from paying your taxes to protecting your copyright; from landing a gallery to planning a commission. The book includes forms, charts, and sample agreements that you're likely to need during your career. And it has a slash in the title, so it will look cool on your shelf.

We organized the chapters in roughly the order of issues you'll encounter as you begin your career, but with the idea that you will probably skip around a lot. We'll tell you where to look whenever we mention something that's explained in another chapter, so don't feel compelled to read through cover-to-cover the way you would with a novel.

Now just to be clear, ...

Customer Reviews

Definitive Resource for Artists and Art Professionals!
I'm an emerging artist who's been shooting for the past couple of years. I've done some shows in the non-profit realm, but only in the past few months have I been actively trying to figure out the ins and outs of the gallery scene.

For months now, I've been scrounging for the most basic information: How do for-profit galleries operate? What kind of contractual/financial obligations are required? How do you properly document your work? I've gone to workshops, interviewed artists, and dug through a lot of junk on the internet...

Only to find that everything I needed (and lots more) was in this book.

This is the definitive how-to book on running a fine art business (from the artist's side), specifically in regards to working with galleries. They don't offer any secret formulas for success, but instead dish out best practices for presenting yourself as professionally as possible.

What amazed me most was the depth of subject matter this book covers. It offers everything from sample legal forms to explicit instructions on how to pack your work for shipment. They use a very open and honest writing style throughout. Instead of coming across as preachy or snobbish, the authors sound more like a good friend letting you in on the secrets of the industry.

An interesting device they use throughout is to include relevant quotes from art professionals on almost every spread. These tie in directly with the subject matter of each section and represent the perspectives of artists, curators and gallery owners. It's one thing for the author to say what he or she thinks, but another thing when you get other voices add to the mix.

My only complaint about the book is a very minor one. While the book is striking in its design, I question the use of a bold sans serif for the body text throughout the book. There's enough white space and leading to make it work, but it seems a choice of aesthetics over practicality.

I don't often get this jazzed about books (especially not over a how-to manual). But I've seen firsthand what a lack of comprehensive resources there are for artists trying to figure out the how's and what's of the art world. This book does a magnificent job of filling that void and I'd recommend it to any artist who's trying to get established.

Very helpful resource for students graduating in a fine arts program.
I bought a copy of this book for all my graduating seniors in photography. I wish I had this book about 9 years ago when I graduated with an MFA. Definitely worth the read! Easy to understand, great examples and overall I would recommend to anyone who is feeling overwhelmed with continuing in their art practice upon graduation!

Learn to be a business person as well as an artist
Where was Art/Work when I was just starting out? Here's a down-to-earth book that teaches you all the nitty-gritty details you didn't learn in art school.

Art/Work gives artists of every level the tools they need to make it in the highly competitive art world. Whether you're an art school grad looking for a gallery, a mid-career artist managing a busy studio, or someone just thinking about becoming a professional artist, this book will help you build your career and protect yourself along the way.

Heather Darcy Bhandari, a gallery director, and Jonathan Melber, an arts lawyer, walk you through issues directly related to being a visual artist. They show you, for example, how to tackle business basics such as tracking inventory and preparing invoices; how to take legal precautions like registering a copyright and drafting consignment forms; how to use promotional tools like websites and business cards; and how to approach career decisions such as choosing the right venue to show your work. I found the chapter in dealing with galleries most informative, and I've been a practicing artist for almost 30 years.

In addition to drawing on their own experiences, Bhandari and Melber interviewed nearly one hundred curators, dealers, and other arts professionals to talk about what they expect from and look for in artists. The authors also talked to a variety of artists and the lessons they've learned navigating the cutthroat world of art.

No matter what kind of artist you are -- or want to be --No matter what your media, or what stage you are in your career, this book can help you. Art/Work covers everything you need to know to succeed, saving you from having to learn it all the hard way -- and letting you spend more time making art.