The art world runs on information asymmetry and it suits almost everyone except the artist. I write about what a commission split covers, why your work is priced wrong in both directions, how a gallery decides who to show, and what a collector is actually buying. I sold other people's work for twenty-six years and took half, so I can tell you exactly what that half was for and when it was not earned.
I remember sitting in a drafty studio in 2004, watching a brilliant painter I represented spend three weeks weeping over a fifty-pound application fee for a residency that offered nothing but a bunk bed and a sense of prestige. We are constantly told that the secret to a sustainable career is some magical, all-encompassing complete […]
I remember sitting in the back office of my gallery in 2008, nursing a lukewarm gin and tonic while a lovely painter—a woman who could make light dance on canvas—cried because she felt “guilty” about increasing her rates. She thought she was being kind to her collectors by keeping her prices stagnant, but all she […]
I remember standing in a drafty, converted warehouse in East London back in 2012, watching a young painter spend three weeks meticulously curating a lighting scheme, only to realize he’d forgotten to budget for the insurance or the actual cost of the floor space. Everyone tells you that pop-ups are this democratic, low-stakes way to […]
I remember sitting in the back of a cramped, overheated studio in 1998, watching a young painter turn a shade of violent crimson because a collector had suggested his color palette felt “unsettled.” Most people will tell you that learning how to give and take critique is about “emotional intelligence” or “nurturing your creative spirit,” […]
I remember a collector—lovely man, smelled faintly of expensive gin and old paper—who sat in my gallery ten years ago, convinced he could “optimize” his estate by handing a stack of mediocre landscapes to a local museum. He thought he was being a saint, but he was actually just trying to turn a tax liability […]
I spent twenty-six years watching artists walk into my gallery with a look of profound, misplaced confidence, only to have their eyes glaze over the moment I pointed out a structural failure in a canvas. They’ve been taught that art is a mystical, untouchable thing, which is exactly why they struggle with how to critique […]
I remember sitting in my gallery back in 2004, watching a talented young painter practically apologize to a collector for the price on a canvas. He had spent three weeks agonizing over his math, trying to balance his rent against his “artistic worth,” only to end up underselling himself so badly that I had to […]
I remember sitting in the back of a drafty, unheated warehouse in East London back in ’98, watching three incredibly talented painters argue over the cost of a single industrial lightbulb. They were so busy curating the “vibe” and the revolutionary politics of their collective that they hadn’t even looked at a spreadsheet. It’s a […]
I remember sitting in my back office in 2004, nursing a lukewarm Earl Grey and staring at a three-page agreement from a dealer who had more charisma than sense. He promised the world, but the fine print was a graveyard of artist rights, specifically regarding how he’d handle my best-selling painter’s secondary market sales. Most […]
I remember sitting in a drafty studio in 2014, watching a lifelong friend of mine—a brilliant, temperamental painter—tear up a stack of legal documents because he felt they were “too clinical” for his creative soul. He thought he could just leave a handwritten note in a drawer and call it a day, but he didn’t […]