Letter about corporate art from Buddy Sears by Buddy Sears

I recieved and sent a letter about corporate art that I thought might be helpful to anyone interested in selling corporate art. I hope this is useful to everyone. — Buddy

Group member wrote:

Hi Buddy, I’ve been doing “commercial” artwork for years in the form of murals and custom interior finishes.I am interested in working in the corporate art market with my fine art. Do you have any hints or suggestions? In Gratitude, …

I wrote:

I would be happy to help. I went through your work and really enjoyed it. It’s a great technique you are using. If you are open to change, the only suggestions I would have is maybe move to a little bit bolder colors, and make sure your corporate pieces are large. It’s hard to guess at sizes, but a good rule of thumb is to create pieces that are at least 5 to 7 feet in size. If you know the space you are painting for you can go even larger. For a really large space, if you don’t have a big studio, you can do 4 separate pieces that go together as one. That way you can achieve a 14 foot painting without too much trouble.

Also, frames are important to large works. You can’t take a piece like that to a frame shop, but you can make your own. I have a guy who is into wood working make my large frames.

As far as selling corp work, there are some differences. First, take a large piece that really represents your work and donate it if you have to. Donate it to a corporate building, or restaurant that is in the business district you plan to sell in. In other words, get something on the wall, big, that you can show a buyer at lunch. I hung an 18 foot sculpture at a local restaurant when I was just starting, traded it for script (free food) and used the script to pay for the lunches. I would take clients to lunch and sit right under the sculpture.

Go to blurb.com, and make a book of your available work. It doesn’t have to be huge, in fact if you only put about 16 pieces in it, with quotes from people about your work, that will do the trick. Use the lunch to go through the book together. The suit you are talking to might need to know that people really like the work, so you have to show them. Don’t expect business people to appreciate art. They only want to make a decision that people in the company will respect. Make sure they leave with the book. The fact that the art they want is published in a book will help justify your price.

Give the buyer a deal! If a company is going to spend big bucks to have your art, then make sure that you offer a smaller paining to the buyer for their office or home at no charge. If they have a different style than yours, that painting will make a nice gift if they have a boss. They will point to your painting in their office and say that a good friend of theirs gave that to them. It becomes a selling tool for you and an impressive status piece for them.

Also, make the group price a bit lower than the individual prices of the art. They will love saving some money.

Finally, plan the installation after the sale if possible. Don’t bog them down with details of the installation. It can kill the sale. I just say, “Sure, we can hang it there.” and then worry about it later.

I hope this all helps. If I haven’t answered your questions please let me know. I may post this letter in the group. Let me know if you think that’s a good idea.

Happy hunting…

Buddy