Which Came First, The Chicken or the Egg? (episode 2)

This is part two of a five-part series about how I went went from emerging artist and residency director in New Mexico, to bringing my own work and the work of dozens of artists to Art Basel Miami and other big art fairs around the world. It may sound like a success story, but it wasn’t always smooth sailing. Want to get the story delivered to your inbox? Sign up here.

My disheartened state at Art Basel Miami actually led to an epiphany. Let me explain.

Have you ever heard of the “chicken or the egg” problem? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

The gallery model at art fairs is sort of like that problem. It goes like this:

In order for emerging artists to show their work at big art fairs like Art Basel, they must be picked up by a gallery. In order to get picked up by a gallery, artists must have experience behind them. But to get that experience, they have to…

Hmmm, you see the quandary?  How do you get to that first big step?

I quickly realized that waiting for a gallery to pick you up before you can show your work at a big art fair was, well, waiting for someone to grant you the keys to the castle, so to speak. To make matters worse, I didn’t even know who to kiss up to to be granted such access. Besides, what happens when you finally do get a gallery contract and they don’t want to (or can’t) take your work to Art Basel Miami?

My thoughts about the gallery system in the art world really started to change. My rebellious nature began to show itself.

Galleries are loaded; you can see it in their fancy display rooms, and their fancy websites; the fact that they can afford $30,000 booths at Art Basel Miami tells you everything. Plus, they take their money directly from artists by taking at least 50% of the final sale price of every piece they sell. I have to admit, as I looked closer, I started to think of galleries as used car salesmen.

Beyond that, galleries don’t help you write a good artist statements – if you walked in without one, they wouldn’t see past a typo or give you the time of day. As much promotion as I saw galleries giving their artists, I didn’t see them sharing their secrets with the artists they claim to be supporting. They seemed just as invested in keeping their whole system a secret, just as the art fair did.

I knew one thing at this point- I did NOT want to suck up to a gallery, or become one.

So, I continued my search for emerging artists at satellite fairs and looked deeper into the scene for answers to my questions. I found even MORE barriers that prevent emerging, independent artists from getting in on such a great opportunity. Chicken or the egg problem? I think so. But it doesn’t stop there.

There are built-in reasons why emerging artists are not being seen in such “big deal” places.

Are you curious to find out why? Stay tuned for episode three of my story.

 

Check out the other posts in this series:

Episode 1: It Started With My Curiosity- And Maybe a Little Jealousy

Episode 2: Which Came First, The Chicken or the Egg?

Episode 3: Overcoming Barriers in a Messed Up System

Episode 4: The Art of Demystifying Success