This exchange of posts took place on the news group: rec.arts.fine  between  
Mani DeLi and Dan Fox 
 

Mani's comment: 
1   Second tier galleries rarely own anything more than a desk and some picture hooks. Their only costs are rent and a few utilities. They rarely own any artwork as almost everything is on consignment. Although they sometimes print brochures for their shows and provide the wine and potato chips these are often paid for by the artists. 

2   Added to this the artist also pays thirty to fifty percent commission on all sales. 

Dan's comment: 
3   In fairness, most galleries must pay astronomical rents for space in desirable areas. They must also pay staff salaries. Some have staff on commission to get around this (high cost). Unless the gallery is really hot, you can imagine how good those commission-only salespeople are. 

4   Also, any legitimate gallery prints invitations (usually not brochures) at 
their expense, and mails them to an extensive list. They also mail to the 
artist's list. They send out press releases, write letters and email, and make phone calls to sell work. No real gallery depends on foot traffic. 

Mani's comment: 
5   it might surprise the reader to know that galleries rarely have trouble finding artists to fill their spaces. Art dealers are  constantly inundated with requests to look at work by artists wishing to show. 
The lucky dealer can then get everything on consignment with no outlay of money. But there is a hitch. Although the dealer can find hundreds of artists, he rarely finds any who really sell well. The few artists who do manage to sell well head for the first tier. 

Dan's comment: 
6   True. However, many artists that sell well stay and make a good living at galleries that are not in the top 10. You don't have to be at Mary Boone to have a good career. 

Mani's comment: 
7   In spite of the inflation of available artists from which to choose, few second tier galleries make enough profit in order to last for any great length of time.  The result is that most second tier galleries are fly-by-night operations. Here today, gone tomorrow. 

Dan's comment: 
8   Some stay, some go. It is almost impossible to tell which is which, because 
the gallery financing and income may not be at all apparent. Galleries in which you see no foot traffic may be making a fortune selling to known collectors. 

Mani's comment: 
9   Because a large over-population of vain artists flock to galleries offering to consign them paintings at essentially no cost to the 
gallery, the art business sometimes amounts to little more than theft. I do not maintain that all galleries are shady or dishonest, but most artists have had some bad experiences at one time or other. 
 

12  Of course I have a legal consignment sheet (see comment below). I thought of framing it as a post-modern piece. 

Mani's comment: 
13  Many artists are often so happy to have their work accepted that they fail to get proper receipts. If any works sell, the gallery can, just keep the proceeds of the sale.  Artists frequently have to sue galleries and more than a few gallery owners have been known to vanish with the proceeds. 

Dan's comment: 
14  These are called consignment sheets. Some galleries offer contracts, others do it on a handshake. Both are fine (have a lawyer read the contract). However, you MUST have a consignment sheet. This must list: each work, its price, the dealer commission, and that the work is property of the artist until sold. A very important point, often missed: the sheet must specify when payment is to be made to the artist ("payment of the artist's portion to be made in full within two weeks after the gallery receives payment", for example) 

Mani's comment: 
15  Now and again we see newspaper articles about such scandals. I have known artists who have had no end of troubles leading to lengthy costly lawsuits against dealers. I have also known of dealers who spent most of their time avoiding telephone calls from irate artists and dodging summons servers. 

Dan's comment: 
16  A favorite shady trick of some galleries is to collect the money from a sale and use the artist's portion to pay the rent - putting the artist off. Or selling work and not telling the artist. Very common practices. 

17  There are also a lot of fraudulent exhibitions out there - I don't mean the 
ripoffs where they collect entry fees for profit but still have an exhibit - I mean illegal scams where there is no exhibit at all. Check everything 
out first - save yourself a lot of misery. 

Mani's comment: 
18  The root of this trouble often lies with the artists because so many of them prefer to live in a kind of ethereal dreamland and steadfastly refuse to learn anything about the business aspect of their profession. Many are ripe to be fleeced by unscrupulous dealers. 

Dan's comment: 
19  Yep. You MUST learn some basics about selling art. However, you must take 
risks to be exhibited - just try to minimize them. 

Mani DeLi 
"https://www3.sympatico.ca/manideli/index.html" 

Dan Fox 
"https://www.danfoxart.com"