Defining The Art Gallery
What is an Art Gallery?
In the digital age, finding quality art is increasingly difficult for the discerning art collector.
The Art Museum as an organization is easy to understand, a grand structure dedicated to the public, and the preservation of cultural items and history is its most straightforward mission. The Art Gallery as an organization is a different beast. An entity of the private world and the enterprise of art. Art Galleries exist to support the artist, representing and distributing artwork through their doors. Curating exhibitions from artists or artists’ estates, they choose to represent under the lens of a long-term collaboration. Supporting and monitoring their careers.
There are three main types of Art Galleries; Commercial Galleries, Vanity Art Galleries, and Artist-Run Galleries.
Artist-Run Galleries
In this case, an artist or a collective of artists will get together to put artwork on exhibition. It’s an adaptation of a commercial gallery that removes the third-party management of a traditional commercial gallery. Although often exciting for their hyper-focus on a few artists and their work. Safeguards for buyers and collectors are harder to come across.
Vanity Galleries
This gallery organization collects fees from artists to put their work on display. Often used as a quick tool to help an artist promote their work without an established gallery’s approval with a vetting process. Consequently serious collectors usually refrain from purchasing through these organizations. The organizations often don’t have a vested interest in helping artists develop their professional careers. In summary this gallery type creates a flash in a pan, but lacks long term value for artists and buyers.
Commercial Galleries
The Commercial Gallery is the most common art gallery as it’s the best option for both collectors and artists alike and plays a crucial role in the art world.
Led by professionals, the commercial gallery represents a portfolio of emerging artists of merit, presenting them to clients and representing them in the art world. In fact, buying artwork from emerging artists through an established commercial gallery indicates that the artwork has been reviewed for quality of content, technique, and uniqueness of expression. After all, collecting art is about controlled, purposeful buying. The commercial gallery’s sole purpose is to present quality artwork to buyers.
Higher-end commercial galleries provide collectors and investment buyers services for secondary market acquisitions. Galleries like International Art Acquisitions, Inc. have been providing Art Advisory collection development and Art Wealth Management services to experienced and new investors for over 30 years. Subsequently brokering successful sales and acquisitions of artworks from Picasso, Warhol, Frankenthaler, Renoir, and emerging artists, to name a few.
Additionally, Commercial Galleries that work in the secondary market also provide data reporting, graphed spreadsheets, comparables like examples for the selected investment work, and insurance and fair market value appraisals.
Plan a Gallery Visit!
International Art Acquisitions is a leading art gallery in Rochester, NY. Our mission is to provide artwork selections from leading figures of historical scope, from blue-chip to mid-career and emerging artists. In addition to showcasing paintings by American, European, Contemporary, Impressionist & Modern artists year-round, we specialize in art investment, appraisal, and collection management services.
International Art Acquisitions works diligently to research, evaluate, and present a collection that takes full consideration of a work’s quality, uniqueness, and historical importance. Resulting in an expertly curated collection that will delight and inspire you when visiting. The gallery is open daily for in-person art buying consultations.
Published
2022/05/10