When I got going in the art biz, I assumed if people liked the art, they would just buy it if it was in their budget. Well...some people do, many do not.
I read an online article about factors that make art saleable besides the image, style or other stuff about the art itself. The artist him/herself is a big factor, as is the "story" behind the painting.
According to the article, "the art speaks for itself" isn't good enough for collectors. They want the other things, too. The author used the example of forgeries -- accurate copies of existing artwork that only experts can tell are forgeries. Same images, only the "stories" are different -- and that's why a forgery would never sell for the price of an original masterpiece except under fraudulent circumstances.
By extrapolation, the same principle applies to original works that are NOT forgeries. I knew an artist from somewhere in Africa who did colorful, ethnic figurative paintings, and the artist had very detailed explanations of what every part of the image represented -- an actual story. Buyers loved it, and he sold like crazy!
I, on the other hand, could only explain that this desert landscape painting is in so-and-so place, and I liked the place so much, I wanted to paint it. Frankly, I never knew what else to say, and I couldn't figure out how to apply what my African artist friend said about his work.
I can't say how much of a problem this has been for me in the past. Where I live in southern California, impressionism tends to be more well-received than traditional/classical realism. I still have an online presence, but I no longer try that hard to sell paintings. I paint what I want to paint and take it more slowly.
And that's actually OK!
Mark Junge
