I can only commend the RSMA for the increasing diversity in relation to
gender.
The other aspect in which this exhibition does well is the diversity of
the media used for the artwork in the exhibition. The Sculpture / 3D
artwork is particularly strong in this respect.
One thing though,"Mixed media"as a description is a bête
noire of mine given it can hide a multitude of sins!
I'd like to encourage the society to get artists to explain what they
mean by mixed media
and, if they have the space, to include the details in the catalogue and
on the labels on the wall.
One corner of the exhibition - near the end wall in the West Gallery - is
very irritating. It's not only got two narrow walls either side of the
fire exit but it's also got very "in your face / look at me" fire alarms
and narrative text for what to do.
This is the ONLY exhibition I've ever seen which has tackled this wall
wonderfully well
- by putting equally strong colours right next to the alarm stuff.
It made it look as if it was part of the hang.
This continues to be an exhibition which offers a lot of prizes -
which is nice for both artist members and open entry artists alike. HOWEVER.....
-
I noted discrepancies between the artwork with the prize designation
on the wall and the list on the Mall Galleries website. -
What's on
the website of the Mall Galleries re awards
MUST coincide with where the sticker is on the walls -
I think I counted two (definitely at least one) where this wasn't
the case
(i.e. wrong image used - or maybe sticker in the wrong
place?). -
I looked again while writing this post and I think it might have
been changed from when I was studying the page very closely earlier
this week. Or maybe there are two pages? -
any art society worth its salt, (intended pun!) gets its list
of award winners up on its website PDQ - and this has not happened.
These are your premier artists for this years - please treat them as
if they deserve a mention on your website!!! -
By way of contrast,
I've never ever come across another FBA art society (i.e.
exhibiting at the Mall Galleries) which exhibits on its website all the artwork which won prizes in the last ten years - from 2010 to 2023. That's a resource that is certainly worth reviewing by any artist
contemplating an entry in future. It could be improved as a resource
for the open entry if each artwork also had its size and media added.
Mall Galleries website
I'm now finding the new Mall Galleries website easier to use than I
did for the last exhibition I wrote about.
If offers a nifty trick which anybody can use to find out
- what the market likes to buy
- what prices they like to pay
The method is is to use the filter to select just the sold pieces.
So - below is what you see if you click the "filters" which are on the
left of the webpage. The select the exhibition in question and then
select the "sold out" status - and it produces a page of sold artwork.
and here we have an extract from one of the pages about the 33 sold artworks as at 24th September. You might just be able to make out the
prices paid. I am not in the least bit surprised by a lot of the numbers
The cafe and the cake and the demo
underestimate, how much regular visitors look forward to their cup of
tea or coffee and a cake while they ponder on a possible purchase.
Be nice to your collectors!
I spoke to the right person at the Mall Galleries about the siting of the
demo last Friday. NEVER EVER site a demo right in front of artwork, as
this one was. (Nothing to do with the artist BTW). It needs to be in
the centre of the gallery so that:
exploring why more sales are not being achieved....
|
|
Chart of the Distribution of prices sales between RSMA Members and Open Artists across four price ranges |
NOTHING about this chart surprises me. It's very similar to a LOT
of other charts I've produced in the past for other art societies
-
the majority of artwork sold is priced below £1,500 - which is very
typical of Mall Galleries exhibitions -
sales by open entry artists exceeds sales by members on artwork
priced below £1,500 -
sales by members exceed sales by open entry artists in the higher
price ranges -
BUT there's not a lot of higher priced sales. Those
achieving such prices are all well known marine artists with a
following.
EXCEPT for one thing. There's a price range missing - from £350 to
£500.
This typically produces sales of 20% of the artwork hung in that price
range, when it is included!!
Whoever designated £600 as the minimum sale value for all artwork in the
RSMA exhibition has clearly never studied my charts before or reviewed
the numbers re past sales. Or maybe just thinks there's something very
unique and different about marine art?
|
|
There should have been a LOT more red spots on this wall of small works - the issue was pricing! |
Bottom line there could have been a lot more sales if some of the
artwork had been priced lower. Most of those sales would have gone to open entry artists, where there
tends to be a focus on producing more affordable artwork.
Having a focus on more affordable artwork is a clever way of getting
buyers to climb the ladder to more expensive artwork. Once you've made a commitment to one artist you're likely to buy
another and almost certainly will be looking at their website or
Instagram account - and coming to next year's exhibition. I know - I've
done it.....
Recommendations on pricing for members and open artists
I'd focus on:
- looking carefully at the artwork sold and the prices paid
-
members can overprice pieces which ought to be considered as "more
affordable". -
open artists can overprice their work thinking they need to up their
prices for a central London gallery
It was very clear to me as I was going around, that some artists
(mainly from the open entry - but also some non-London based
members) are obviously not at all familiar with the price ranges favoured by
those members of the public visiting the gallery in recent times to
view the exhibitions. Most sales are under £1,500. This is affordable
art territory.
Essentially, I cannot emphasise too much that we're still living in
tough times economically.
Interest rates are coming down, but businesses associated with
"splurge buys" are still closing down or cutting overheads drastically
and prospects for many people are still uncertain. Plus we know the
new government is about to make more changes to personal budgets.
Hence the focus needs to be on ensuring appropriate pricing to create
more affordable art.
That said,
-
for those who have cultivated a following amongst art collectors in
the past, your higher priced work needs to reflect the current
buying power of your collectors. If they're highnet worth
individuals, you can stick to what you've charged in the past. -
If your collectors / buyers are typically people with hefty
mortgages to go with the big house and continuing uncertainty in
their lives, you might want to think about ways to make your art
still worth buying....
At least one artist has stopped producing very large artwork with very
large prices and has settled on a strategy of a different format and a
smaller prize and hence more affordable (but not cheap) prices - and is
generating sales.
Others could do the same.....
|
|
I love the way that Deborah Walker has reduced the size of her work but still is unmistakably Deborah and still packs in lots of content and great painting |
Members of the RSMA
I'm not going to include all the links to their websites. However it is
worth noting that
these are all the member artists who have artwork in the
exhibitiom.
Members of the RSMA exhibiting in this exhibition are listed below.
Note the membership lean very much towards the masculine.
A - Jenny Aitken, Colin Allbrook, Tony Allain, David Allen,
B - Paul Banning, Peter Barker, James Bartholomew, Fred Beckett,
Wendy Borello, Robert Brindley, Gareth Brown, Mark Buck, Alistair Butt,
C - William Carney, Trevor Chamberlain, Brian Collins, Simon
Conolly, Peter Cronin, David Curtis,
D - Richard Dack, Madeleine Davenport, Roger C. Desoutter, Roger
Dellar, Patrick Donovan
F - Neil Faulkner, Brian Flemming,
G - John Michael Groves, Nick Grove,
H - Tim Hall, Margaret Heath, Benjamin Hope, Richard Horner,
David Howell, Geoffrey Huband, Geoff Hunt, Moira Huntly,
J - Brian Jones,
K - Robert King
L - Raymond Leech, John Lines
M - Tom Marsh, Jamie Medlin, Brian Mitchell, Jenny Morgan,
Srirangam Mohankumar, Patsy Moore, Benjamin Mowll, Bruce Mulcahy, Mark
Myers
P - Duncan Palmer, Barry Peckham, Matthew Phinn,
R - Keith Richens, Greg Ramsden, Gillian Roberts, Nicholas St
John Rosse, Alan Runagall,
S - Michael Salt, John Scott Martin, Carolyn Simpson, Christopher
Slater, Elizabeth Smith, John Stillman, Haidee-Jo Summers, Martin Swan,
Andrzej Szymczyk, David Thomas, Dennis Syrett,
T - Karl Terry,
W - Deborah Walker, Tony Williams, John Walsom, John Webster,
Peter Wileman, Bert Wright, Paul Wright, Rowena Wright.
