This is an important topic, yet so often avoided. I’ve thought about it a lot: why should I expect my nephew to do better at getting my work into the world than me after I’m gone? Upon my passing, will the world really care more about my work than now? I have a backlog of large unsold paintings done before the market crash of 2008. I’ve dismantled most of them, chopping/reusing stretchers for smaller sized paintings. But the last few of these are the strongest and I am dreading the day of dismantling them. I am starting to give work away, too.
I inherited the collection of an artist who died in 2009. Rather than selling the work and keeping whatever I made from sales, I paired with a local organization that provides art classes to kids. They promoted the sale it to their community and I did the same with mine. The pairing gave people a greater incentive to buy work. I also priced it much lower than the artist or his spouse would have..... In the end, getting the work out of my basement (or in a dumpster) and on walls was the goal, and I was able to make a 20K donation to the organization.
In conjunction with the sale, I created a website with all of the available work and prices.
Having thought these exact thoughts about ten years ago, I began my Great Giveaway Art Project. I invited people to the studio and had them choose a work to take home. My husband and I were teaching at the time and when students came for a studio visit, they took home my work. My family members told friends. I posted on social media. People from all over the country have my work now, having only paid for shipping costs. It consumed a lot of my time, but I was very happy to get my work into homes. I still have work left, but about 90% of my larger paintings and collages are out of the studio. But this might not work for artists who have had some commercial success. I was "fortunate" not to have much of a sales record so I had no collectors complaining about me undermining their investments, something that could be a problem for those who actually sell work now and again. Art world finances are perverse, and mostly reward a select few, as most artists know all too well.
This is an important topic, yet so often avoided. I’ve thought about it a lot: why should I expect my nephew to do better at getting my work into the world than me after I’m gone? Upon my passing, will the world really care more about my work than now? I have a backlog of large unsold paintings done before the market crash of 2008. I’ve dismantled most of them, chopping/reusing stretchers for smaller sized paintings. But the last few of these are the strongest and I am dreading the day of dismantling them. I am starting to give work away, too.
I inherited the collection of an artist who died in 2009. Rather than selling the work and keeping whatever I made from sales, I paired with a local organization that provides art classes to kids. They promoted the sale it to their community and I did the same with mine. The pairing gave people a greater incentive to buy work. I also priced it much lower than the artist or his spouse would have..... In the end, getting the work out of my basement (or in a dumpster) and on walls was the goal, and I was able to make a 20K donation to the organization.
In conjunction with the sale, I created a website with all of the available work and prices.
Having thought these exact thoughts about ten years ago, I began my Great Giveaway Art Project. I invited people to the studio and had them choose a work to take home. My husband and I were teaching at the time and when students came for a studio visit, they took home my work. My family members told friends. I posted on social media. People from all over the country have my work now, having only paid for shipping costs. It consumed a lot of my time, but I was very happy to get my work into homes. I still have work left, but about 90% of my larger paintings and collages are out of the studio. But this might not work for artists who have had some commercial success. I was "fortunate" not to have much of a sales record so I had no collectors complaining about me undermining their investments, something that could be a problem for those who actually sell work now and again. Art world finances are perverse, and mostly reward a select few, as most artists know all too well.