Art galleries play a significant role in the art world by representing and showcasing artists. While the public only sees the art in an exhibition, behind the scenes an art gallery is a lot more involved: from finding artists through open calls or scouting, to setting the prices of artworks, to marketing and relationship management with customers, the gallery runs a whole business.
Galleries often work with a portfolio of artists (or artist estates) which they commit to represent over the long-term, and organize a number of carefully curated exhibitions for each. Those collaborations are called representation, whereas artists that only worked with the gallery for one specific exhibition are referred to as exhibited artists.
The galleries take care of the logistics and production of those exhibitions: from transportation, insurance and supervision to preparing the exhibition space, print work, invitations, press coverage, opening receptions and so on. When an exhibition is dedicated to a single artist, it’s called a solo exhibition and can be a big highlight in the career of the artist. When an exhibition is dedicated to two artists it’s a duo exhibition, and when it’s three or more artists it’s a group exhibition.
An art gallery’s goal is to make money from the sales of the artworks it represents. To achieve this, it builds an art marketing strategy that includes the promotion of its exhibition spaces and the artists it works with, along with particular communication strategies to reach and engage with its audience.
Some galleries specialize in a certain segment of the art market, for example photography or sculpture art, whereas others are experts in a specific era or genre like Modernist artwork or antiquities. A gallery can also focus on a particular geographic region and display only artworks from that area.
Many artists credit their galleries for helping them to launch their careers. As an example, the famous painter Mark Rothko credited his first solo show at the New York City’s Peggy Guggenheim Gallery with being a major turning point in his career.
There are a large number of legitimate art galleries that charge a fee for their services, in order to give artists the chance to present their artwork to a wider audience and potentially sell it. However, it’s important to assess if the fees are worth paying for this exposure.
Most of the time an art gallery will only sell artworks produced by artists they represent. But there are exceptions as well: for example, some art galleries buy artwork from collectors or at auction – not directly from the artist who created it – and then sell it again in their gallery at a higher price. This phenomenon is known as the secondary market. In such cases, the gallery does not earn a commission from the sale, but still makes money by selling the artwork at a higher price. This is the way in which art galleries are able to keep their doors open and continue to support the artists they work with.