I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed that there are a great many more ‘art show’ emails coming to the inbox than, say, a year ago. I’ve never heard of any of these; most seem to be based in New York or Europe, and offer some sort of themed exhibition, or gallery show in NY, or book, or whatever…for a nominal fee. I’m led to speculate that perhaps some gallery dealers or show promoters have decided that it’s darned easy to get artists hungry for exposure to pay to enter almost anything.
Here’s an example (and I’ll leave the gallery anonymous):
CALL FOR SUBMISSION
<Exhibition name deleted>
This exhibition will feature 200 artists from aroundthe world. Invitations will be sent to over 40,000 collectors, andfellow artists. Your works will also be featureon our website and for purchase online.
Idea:Each artist will have a 40(L)x30(H) space to display their artwork of choice. Artist’s can have as many pieces as you want as long as it doesn’t go over the 40″ x 30″ space. Make sure that each piece are ready to hang and is less than 2 lbs. Also, please be sure to mail in a picture/chart of how you want your pieces to be displayed.
We will be picking one artist from this exhibition to presents a solo exhibition at our gallery. We will also be picking 10 artists to present a group exhibition as well.
All artists are guaranteed to be featured in this exhibition upon completion of registration.
AWARD: SOLO Exhibition
Entry Fee: $50
This was cut and pasted from my email - typos, grammatical errors, and all. Plus, I’m confused by “all artists guaranteed to be featured upon completion of registration”, vs the “feature 200 artists”, vs the 40,000 artist invitation.
As other recent blog entries have so amply illustrated: be very choosy about the shows you enter - check them out, talk to other artists who have been involved with the show, Google the show name…etc. For example, I’ve exhibited with a reputable show in California in which sales have been fairly poor recently, and I won’t return to it. An artist contacted me after the last time I’d been in this show to ask me about my experience; I told her my observations, and she bemoaned having already made travel reservations to attend. Clearly, the time to make that phone call is before any money is committed, not after.
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