Last week, I was invited to be included in a really cool group show in Japan. But. They wanted me to pay an admission, to give them money to be part of the art show. This really bothered me, not because the admission was high, but because I’m tired of having to pay for other people to show my art. I have already spent my money on making the artworks they want to exhibit; I bought the canvases, the paint, the paint brushes, whatever I needed to get that inner expression out of me onto a canvas. I went to the framer’s shop and had it framed. Oh, and don’t forget about the time, the effort and the divine talent I put into my work. I work hard and I spend a long time working on a piece. Then, if I am invited to a gallery to show my work I have to buy some bubble wrap, cardboard and packing tape (a lot of packing tape) to secure and protect the artworks in the shipping process.

From my experience there are three different alternatives when it comes to shipping your artworks to an art show; 1.) If the gallery is very professional and serious about their business, they will pay for the shipping, both ways (if the piece doesn’t sell in the show). 2.) If the gallery is semi professional you have to pay for the shipping to there and they pay for the return if the artwork is not sold. 3.) If the gallery is not very professional and perhaps run by other artists without much money, you have to pay for shipping both ways. This is very expensive – because it means you payed for the art supply to make the artwork, you put all the work and effort into it, you got it framed, bought the bubble wrap, cardboard and the tape, payed for the shipping fee and if it didn’t sell you are forced to pay for another shipping. That’s a lot of money being lost in the process. And yes, it’s ‘good publicity’ to show your work, but you can’t use that as an excuse for losing money on your art for more than some years in the beginning of your career, in the end  – it just becomes bad business. Really bad.

And then you have the galleries that wants you to pay an admission, or pay for the promotional work – the printing of posters, flyers etc.

And you don’t really want your art to be too expensive, because then nobody can afford to buy it, unless you work with fancy galleries where they have customers who can afford a little Jeff Koons to put on the terrace or to collect diamond skulls as a favorite hobby. But I feel a little too underground for those places. I like a real audience, where the eyes and hearts falls in love with my art, not the wallets or business senses.But let’s say you do sell a piece in the art show – then the gallery will take up to 50% of the sales. (In the end you payed for the art supply, you put all the work and effort into it, you got it framed, bought the bubble wrap, cardboard and the tape, you payed the shipping fee and then the gallery took 50% of your sales. Perhaps you even had to pay for the snacks for the opening night.)

I’m not good at math but it’s not hard to see that something is wrong in this equation. And I understand, the gallery owners have their own problems and want to get some money out of it too. But I’m thinking… I wouldn’t start my own gallery if I couldn’t afford to run it – and the galleries couldn’t exist without the artists. We should be very much respected for the work we are doing, and not pay for gallery expenses, we already had our own expenses to pay.

They say that every artist has to suffer and be broke – even starving (!) to be a true artist – and the danger in keeping that cliché alive is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where the artist is “OK” with it, because it’s expected of them to always be broke and live without any money. Can you imagine an art director starving and working for free because he’s doing something he or she loves, or a veterinarian suffering and paying money to taking care of animals in need, because that’s his or hers passion in life? Why should artists suffer and starve just because they have a passion in life?

I am tired of losing money on my art and to be expected to work for free because it’s “good publicity”. And how insulting it is when someone says “Think about Van Gogh, he didn’t make ANY money on his art while he was alive!” like it’s something good and positive to not make money on one’s art, because it implies that you will be considered to be a genius when you are dead and buried. I don’t want to lose an ear or to die all poor and hungry (or to get scurvy because I can’t afford to keep a healthy diet).

I will end this little complaint with two absurd offers I once got when it comes to my art. The first offer was an invitation to have my art in an art magazine that wanted me to pay $500 for it: “The normal rate was $500 but I’m offering the space for $350 because its last minute.” I was ‘touched’ by his generosity but declined the offer. The second offer was from an online gallery – an “art happening”. It sounded cool but a bit confusing. An “Art happening”? I asked them what their idea was and I got a colorful email full of images that would explain their concept:

I couldn’t believe it – the people (art lovers) of this initiative wanted me to DESTROY my artwork if it didn’t sell during the one week I was presented on their website! How arrogant! I understand that it’s easier for a street artist to destroy or cover up their art to keep it exclusive and alluring, but for most artists it’s an insult to be asked to destroy your work. You just don’t do it unless you hate it and don’t want anyone to see it. But you don’t destroy your art just because it didn’t sell at an online auction. I remember I was quite upset about this for weeks after I was invited. I just couldn’t understand how someone could ask an artist to destroy their art because it was ‘cool and exclusive’ to do so after a big hype about the artwork. I think I’m still a little upset about it and it reminds me of how serious I am about my art and how much it means to me.

It’s time that I start making money on my art. I just have to figure out how, without selling my soul to the devil or become an industry, because that’s not what my art is about. The exclusivity about my art, is that all the artworks have their own lives, their own history and their own stories to tell. That’s why I am an artist, to express myself, not to make big business. But it wouldn’t hurt to be able to do what I love and get paid for it, and not lose money on what I love the most in life.