78 Artists Magazine June 2020
Outfit BUSINESS OF ART
a
rtists face many challenges
when it comes to pricing their
work. Many simply look at the
work of artists around them and price
their own work accordingly, but this
method ignores the particularities of
knowledge and style. Developing a per-
sonal pricing tool clarifies the effort of
producing a work, which then opens a
narrative about the value of your work.
Once you know why your works cost
what they do, then you’ll be better able
to explain it to potential buyers and
galleries. When you offer a discount,
you’ll understand what you’re choosing
to subsidize for the sake of the buyer.
The four main considerations for
determining the price of a work are the
location of the sale, the medium used,
the size of the work and the artist’sreputation. If you’ve already established
a reputation and following for your
work, you may have an idea of what
prices your market will bear; neverthe-
less, it’s a good idea to know the effects
of the other three factors. If you’re
trying to build or gain a reputation for
your work, understanding these three
factors is even more important, so let’s
examine them more closely.LOCATION
Artists without gallery representation
typically charge more at an art fair than
they do during a studio visit because
the studio visit entails fewer expenses
for the artist. Also, selling work dur-
ing an open-studio weekend differs
dramatically from presenting theDollars and Sense
Increase your smarts on pricing art.
by C.J. KentSLOOP COMMUNICATIONS/GETTY IMAGESsame works at a gallery. A sale through
a gallery is more prestigious, but
artists typically receive only half the
selling price; for that reason, doubling
material costs in the pricing schema
ensures the artist gets a full return
on those costs after the sale. People
visiting open studios typically buy
inexpensive works, and some artists
offer discounts during such weekends.
Lowering prices for these occasions
should be done with gallery approval
so as to avoid upsetting collectors who
work through the gallery.MEDIUM
Medium matters. Other factors being
equal, a bronze sculpture has a differ-
ent asking price from a C-print. Both
of those command a price different
from that of a watercolor, and works in
any of those three media have differ-
ent market values from drawings. The
uniqueness of a monotype leads to dif-
ferent pricing from a silkscreen series.
This is an area in which an under-
standing of the field’s general pricing
expectations is helpful. Learn about
artists working in your medium to
better understand their pricing rather
than taking their numbers at face
value. You may find that a particu-
lar artist includes a special process
or medium within his or her work
that alters its value. This reinforces
the importance of understanding
your own creative process and its
contribution to the final pricing.SIZE
The size of a work influences its cost
and is a measure that makes sense to
most clients. The two most common
formulas are square-inch pricing and
linear-inch pricing, both of which get
multiplied by your reputation factor.
Recognize that size is how most people
will think of pricing, and keep similarly
sized work in the same price range.
Small works are typically less expen-
sive, but that doesn’t mean they’re less
labor intensive. Figure out how much
time and care you put into a smaller
piece to determine whether the price
reduction sufficiently compensates for
the effort.