getting an art show
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- heavyarms
Have any of you had an art show before? I am curious how many good pieces do you need to show either by yourself or with someone else.
How did you get people to come? Does the gallery advertise or make flyers?
- rasko40
you hire space, you promote. you put what you want in. Spaces will likely want to know what you are putting up before hand, some are exclusive to their own artists.
- tny0
get band or a dj to play...
- GreedoLives0
look at the space..that should determine the number of pieces.
buy booze and people will come. invite some corporate art buyers and kiss their ass.
- heavyarms0
You have to pay for the space? I wasn't sure how that worked out. Do you think for a first show maybe a group show would be best? Is there a lot of personal expense in having a show?
- tny0
yep, don't forget the booze
- heavyarms0
So what, you pay for an open bar?
- GreedoLives0
uh...you can send samples to galleries to see if they'll show your work. then you won't have to pay for the space, but they'll take about 40% of sales. If you want to have a show but don't have a space and nobody's offering, yes, you will have to pay, and no, they're usually not cheap. But there's all sorts of arts centers/community places/experimental spaces etc around that help out aspiring artists. look around.
As for booze, depends on your budget. Buy a case of wine or beer...that'll get them in but not drunk enough to cause trouble.
- thosethat0
i had a show a year or two back...
i had to buy the booze myself..!
but it was a good experience...
one thing though... don't bother to invite anyone from here as they won't turn up (except Vespa... who did), even if there is free booze...
another thing... find out if the gallery has insurance... i mean if there was a bad damp problem (which you didn't know about) which caused a few of your lovingly crafted prints to fall to the floor and be damaged beyond repair you'd want to be covered right..?
umm...
- scarabin0
you don't need alcohol for an art show.
absolutely ghetto unless you're throwing some kind of rave loft party. which should be an after-party anyway.
- GreedoLives0
you don't NEED alcohol to have an art show, but it'll keep people hanging around and get them talking...good to make contacts and such.
- ********0
scarabin is wrong, you DO need alchohol for a proper art show.
- rasko40
scarabin has an uncanny knack for being wrong almost all of the time.
- DaveId0
bro-deals.
networking.
otherwise it's just cold-calling.
- pr20
you do need alcohole as most of the time the work isn't that good to hand around for long.
print cheap pistacrds (say 1000 for $200) and give it out to every person alive.
it helps if the opening is in a trendy hood so hot bitches will show up.
usually very little money is exhanged unless some asshole celebrity shows up and buys a piece (in that case you can be sure the show will be sold out).
- ricstultz0
Make good work and people will show up. Make really good work and someone might buy something.
Start going to other openings and introduce yourself to gallery directors. ask about future group shows.
Serving alcohol will loosen people up, but postcards are a neccesity. Leave stacks of them at the hot spots in your city.
Most of all, your work will/should speak louder than anything. Don't go showing it around to people until you are totally confident...
- heavyarms0
So many times you will make no money but only hopefully build up some recognition.