Two Art Show Pet Peeves
The Booth Slide and Percentage Rule
Two Art Show Pet Peeves belongs to the following groups:
Current Issuesl. The Booth Slide
So if I am submitting some beautiful slides of my work to an art show jury and the jury wants me in their show, but my booth slide shows that I am poor and have an old tent and old print racks, so I am juried out. Or if my beautiful slides are of different subjects that I have painted and again the jury wants me in their art show based on the slides of my work, but my booth slide shows that my paintings dont “fit” together in terms of style and continuity according to the subjective judgment of a jury, so I am juried out.
If Monet had put some of his impressionistic masterpieces among his early realistic works in his booth, he could have been juried out. ( By the way, Monet was rejected for an exhibition in Paris, later when he became more famous, they wanted him. I believe he told them he was not intereste.)
Gee that is fair and wise. NOT!
Gee, there are a small percentage of art shows that do not require a booth slide. For example, Artstreet in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Gee I guess Artstreet does not know what they are doing. NOT!
Obviously I think requiring a booth slide is very bogus. But us artists play their game to get into the shows.
The Percentage Rule
2. This is the rule requiring a large percentage of original paintings and only a few prints be displayed in a booth at an art show.
Let me explain. I am a vendor/artist at an art show, and all my potential customers want to buy my orginals for much less than what many other artists have told me they are worth. So I dont want to sell my originals. I want to sell prints of these orginals. I can sell the prints for what customers want to pay for same. But often the show organizers require mostly originals. So I am forced to display mostly originals which just sit there and remain unsold at the prices I am asking. And I sell a lot of lower cost prints from these one or two racks. In fact, most of my sales are from the one or two print racks which are just a minor part of my booth display.
And I am always worrying if the show organizers are going to sanction me for maybe having a few too many prints in my print rack(s). Thank goodness most of the time they dont enforce their own rule. But you never know if and when they will. So you have to be careful. I count my prints often in order to make sure I am “playing ball” the show organizers.
Many painters violate this rule whereever possible. They ask other artists discreetly if the percentage rule is enforced or walk around and count prints verses orginals in other booths. And then they use this information to stock their booth accordingly.
Ironically, in photographic art, 100 % prints are permitted (obviously). Gee I think they should have to display original negatives. Of course, I am definitely not serious here. My point here is that painters are being discriminated against at the art shows. Show organizers dream that the show customers will get low below cost painted art. It wont happen.
Artists have expenses and have to pay bills just like anyone else so we cannot sell something at less than it costs us to produce same. Most paintings take many hours to produce.
Of course, I play the game to get into shows and will continue to do so.
One final note. Dont let the above article make you think that I am a not happy person. I am very upbeat and love life. And I dont let show nonsence and politics affect me. Just as long as all us artists know we are playing a game with the show organizers. LOL. Actually it is all funny and entertaining from my point of view.
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