ANNA:
Recession and the Arts Industries
After reading Steph’s article that posed the question; ‘will art galleries survive’ in relation to the growing convenience and use of the Internet, I wanted to explore other factors that were driving artists out of galleries and into the virtual reality of the Internet. I found the article above which highlighted the global recession effect in changes the avenues artist should pursue to market their artwork, essentially answering the blog’s title question, ‘What should artists do about marketing their art in a recession?’
The blog initially states there has been ‘an increase number of blog posts about marketing art’, highlighting that artists are not only posting artworks on the internet, but additionally participate in collaborative discussions on topical issues. The comment; ‘…unless you’re involved in high end investment art, most of the art which is bought is actually purchased to decorate a home…’ was interesting coming directly from an artists who markets their work through the Internet. From experience I feel that web based art seems to target an audience looking for decorative art as opposed to historically (or otherwise) significant pieces.
In this time of recession ‘galleries and sales can be very vulnerable to economic shifts’, ultimately resulting in the turn towards more cost effective mediums of promotion and selling. The blog highlights that direct selling is the most cost effective means of maintaining income levels.
[What should artists do about marketing their art in a
recession 2008, Making a Mark, viewed 10 March 2009, http://makingamark.blogspot.com/2008/01/what-should-artists-do-about-marketing.html]
