Softcover

ISBN 10: 188520308X ISBN 13: 9781885203083

Publisher: Journey Editions, 1994

In this accessible, easy-to-read, detailed guide for artists, students, and aspiring art professionals, gallery owner Molly Barnes takes the mystique out of selling art.

With the art market generating over a billion dollars in sales annually, and enrollment in art schools continuing to rise, more and more graduates are joining the art scene and actively participating in the "business" of art. With How to get Hung readers learn how to present their work and themselves to the professional art world. step-by-step, explanations are given for:

• how to know when your body of work is ready to be presented to art professionals
• networking and strategizing in the art community
• promoting yourself and your work
• how to target the right gallery for your work
• gallery owners: how to work with and communicate with them; understanding their concerns
• hanging the show: best methods for displaying pieces in the space
• what yo can accomplish at your own opening: hot to "behave" with critics, knowing who buys and who doesn't
• continuing the momentum created by your show
• how museums work
• curators, representatives, consultants—their roles and significance to the artist

About the Author:

A well-known New York and Los Angeles gallery owner and art critic, Molly Barnes continues to discover and support emerging artists. She is generally credited with discovering the photo-realism art movement.

From Booklist:

Gallery owner and art critic Barnes is refreshingly free of pretension and preciousness in this let's-get-real guide for students and artists hoping to sell their work. Much as she understands the spiritual and aesthetic forces that motivate artists, she sticks to practical matters. One of her first suggestions is that anyone planning on showing their work to gallery owners must have at least a dozen pieces related by theme, media, or scale. Gallery owners must be wooed, Barnes declares, and, as in any courtship, everything counts, from your appearance--remember this is a visual world: you'd better look good, no, make that interesting--to your ability to speak intelligently yet succinctly about your themes and approach to materials. Barnes offers plenty of sane and sensible guidelines for preparing for studio visits, evaluating agreements with galleries, selecting work for shows, and helping with installation and promotion. Her efficiency and feistiness make it all seem possible, which is what aspiring artists really want to hear. Donna Seaman