How should I approach selling at a traditional gallery show where I have to pay a 50% commission?

Before the gallery show even opens, market the event heavily to your own email list and social media audience. One artist following this approach pre-sold four of twenty pieces to his own collectors before the show opened. While he still had to pay the gallery’s 50% commission on those sales (which is frustrating since the gallery did nothing to bring those buyers), at least he made sales. The key lesson is to leverage the gallery show as an event to activate your own audience, not rely on the gallery’s audience. You can also run a virtual live stream of the physical show to expand reach even further.

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Asked by implied question from teaching context · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2020-07-16