I was interested to see, on facebook tonight, a posting by a good friend and fellow artist. He was bewailing the fact that his work had been accepted for display by a reputable gallery, but that he couldn’t afford to take up their offer. How can that be?
A lot of people, including artists, don’t give adequate thought to the fact that exhibiting work is not only an opportunity to sell it, but it is also an opportunity for others to take their cut. Framing your work can be very expensive for a start, if you are going to take yourself seriously.* Then there is the cost of transporting your work to the venue. My recent exhibition in Lincoln necessitated my making overnight stays each side of the day I spent hanging the work. Will the venue put an adequate effort into publicising the occasion? That can’t always be relied upon, and you might well feel that you need to supplement what is on offer. Some exhibiting venues will expect an up-front fee as well as the percentage commission on sales, so that even if your work does not sell well they will at least have covered their basic costs. The most commonly-encountered cost of entering competition-based shows (such as Patchings, the Great North Art Show, or the various civic open exhibitions) is the fee that is asked per item of your entry. It all adds up.
*I know one artist who (I am convinced) could sell his work if only he could invest in good quality frames. The cheap ones he uses really let him down.