Ways In Which Galleries Encourage Their Professionals
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A regular reader of the news has likely seen headlines about a Damien Hirst show, a record price brought for a Jeff Koons sculpture, or a new work of street art by Banksy. And there's some presence to the examples of an artist's trajectory: group and solo programs at galleries, price appreciation and a good showing at auctions, and ultimately an appearance in a museum program or collection.
What's less instantly visible to the wider world is the function that galleries play, and how a gallery itself becomes recognized. There are a handful of so-called "mega-dealers" whose names may be familiar even to those on the fringes of the art world, Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Speed, and David Zwirner among them. However galleries are still the beating heart of the art world, the system through which numerous artists find their method to organizations, the world's great collections, or just the homes of individuals who enjoy their work.
Galleries have several functions, both visible and invisible: to incubate and support their artists, often by exceeding and beyond the typical work of putting on programs, promoting their artists, and selling the works; and to offering services such as monetary management or book publishing, in order to help their artists focus more completely on their work.
"There's the things that you see in our gallery that remain in front of the scenes, which are undoubtedly the exhibits, the publications that we make, then there are things that are behind the scenes, which could be everything from dealing with an artist on their archives or working on research study for an exhibit for years or possibly looking into artworks that passed through the gallery in terms of secondary market," says Julia Joern, a partner at David Zwirner.
Galleries come in any ages, shapes, and sizes too. Art Basel and UBS's Art Market | 2017 report estimated there were roughly 296,000 dealers and gallery businesses in 2016. Just under 40% of them had yearly sales of less than $500,000, while a similar share had sales totaling between $1 million and $10 million. Nearly 2 thirds of all galleries used five or less individuals, and just 4% had 20 or more staff members.
Regardless of size, at the core of a gallery's identity is its "program." The term usually describes the lineup of artists a gallery represents, however can also describe a conceptual structure or location of focus that guides that roster, in addition to other activities such as collaborations with other galleries, efficiencies and lectures, or reasonable appearances. Many will worry that their main function is to facilitate their artists' production of great work, in any way they can.
A regular reader of the news has likely seen headlines about a Damien Hirst show, a record price brought for a Jeff Koons sculpture, or a new work of street art by Banksy. And there's some presence to the examples of an artist's trajectory: group and solo programs at galleries, price appreciation and a good showing at auctions, and ultimately an appearance in a museum program or collection.
What's less instantly visible to the wider world is the function that galleries play, and how a gallery itself becomes recognized. There are a handful of so-called "mega-dealers" whose names may be familiar even to those on the fringes of the art world, Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Speed, and David Zwirner among them. However galleries are still the beating heart of the art world, the system through which numerous artists find their method to organizations, the world's great collections, or just the homes of individuals who enjoy their work.
Galleries have several functions, both visible and invisible: to incubate and support their artists, often by exceeding and beyond the typical work of putting on programs, promoting their artists, and selling the works; and to offering services such as monetary management or book publishing, in order to help their artists focus more completely on their work.
"There's the things that you see in our gallery that remain in front of the scenes, which are undoubtedly the exhibits, the publications that we make, then there are things that are behind the scenes, which could be everything from dealing with an artist on their archives or working on research study for an exhibit for years or possibly looking into artworks that passed through the gallery in terms of secondary market," says Julia Joern, a partner at David Zwirner.
Galleries come in any ages, shapes, and sizes too. Art Basel and UBS's Art Market | 2017 report estimated there were roughly 296,000 dealers and gallery businesses in 2016. Just under 40% of them had yearly sales of less than $500,000, while a similar share had sales totaling between $1 million and $10 million. Nearly 2 thirds of all galleries used five or less individuals, and just 4% had 20 or more staff members.
Regardless of size, at the core of a gallery's identity is its "program." The term usually describes the lineup of artists a gallery represents, however can also describe a conceptual structure or location of focus that guides that roster, in addition to other activities such as collaborations with other galleries, efficiencies and lectures, or reasonable appearances. Many will worry that their main function is to facilitate their artists' production of great work, in any way they can.
