types of gallery

[miss_chance]

I've talked with some of you about this or that level or type of gallery I'm trying to get my work into, and recently I posted about being approached by a predatory gallery, asking me to pay them to exhibit

Comments

[kremmen]

I've never thought about the structure of galleries before, but that makes it clearer why artists are excited when they get to exhibit in a commercial city gallery. (... Kind of. 50-90% commission?!)

There are cafes, night clubs, etc, here which exhibit art. This symbiotic relationship seems more logical to me than the traditional art gallery, given the large cost of maintaining a public space, but it's quite rare.

[miss_chance]

Most cafes and restaurants here exhibit work, and to a point it's a fine place to show work. The problem is with context. What kind of work is it, and what kind of atmosphere do you want it to be seen in? Most people don't walk through a club just looking a the art and thinking about it, and most commercial establishments, because their primary purpose is selling their product, aren't going to emphasize the art. It's similar to the difference between a band playing in a pub where people go primarily to drink and eat and by the way there's a band playing, versus playing at a concert venue where people go specifically because they want to hear music (which might, by the way, sell beer). Both are totally fine, but they have different effects/purposes/meanings/roles.

Art work also can get damaged in a cafe or club pretty easily and most such places can't insure art. And I'd be surprised to hear about anyone selling art for more than $500 max in a cafe, so they're only good if you're doing work that it makes sense to sell for that rate.

[kremmen]

The pub analogy works for price, too. Seeing a band in a pub is cheap, possibly even free, but seeing them in a concert hall is expensive, due to the costs of using such a venue. In either case, the audience has to be prepared to pay a huge deal more for the option which has greater purity. That must be quite a hurdle for bands and visual artists.