Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Today's reading:

A snippet from gapingvoid.  Worth reading the whole entry, this is a good example of one man's effort to get his stuff out there on his own terms, and a good explanation of why that's a fine idea.  I say, join the movement, DIY (and help each other).  We'll all be better off for it. 

(click the image to make it bigger and stuff...)

3 comments:

Robert Croma said...

Ah, yes...very inspiring. Viva DIY.

HULDRA PRESS said...

This one made me think. And it's making me miss discussion group!

Cheap and expensive.

I have a hard time figuring out what's cheap and what's expensive because it's relative. I do know that when I am pricing something I often end up making an uncomfortable decision. Should I price it at a level where I or my peers could buy it or actually calculate how many hours and what materials went into what I made?

Some galleries feel entitled to the 40/60 split automatically and that can make you lose faith in the system quickly. I think a percentage should be something earned. But promotion takes time, energy and resources. Time you might rather be making work. If a gallery does its part, then they should get a cut.

That said, thank god the internet exists and we can promote ourselves if we so choose.

MB said...

i'm thinking an answer is to develop a new view and method of promoting one's work that's more efficient and direct, but doesn't consume any more making time. i have a theory that if we were to total up all the time and money spent to get in a gallery/show (assuming one did get in) then we could take that same time and money, do it differently and do it ourselves, most likely have comparable sales, and not have to give up the cut. in addition, since a big concern of mine (personally) is accessibility, both social and economic, i see great value in reducing the overhead while maintaining/expanding the audience, because part of how work in a gallery/show is valued is tied back to overhead. reducing overhead would allow one to actually lower their prices and expand the audience of possible purchasers. maybe. it's worth exploring. clearly, i miss the discussion group too!