It’s a provocation intended to make you think. There are two things at play. First, this was triggered by an artist saying they priced a work higher if they are happy with it. And with my industry background my mind shot to Japanese manufacturing standards .. a particular story .. it might have been Dyson .. where the whole factory stopped because someone spotted a fingerprint on the body of a vacuum cleaner, and it didn’t restart until they worked out how it got there and ensured it never happened again. So tell me again about you selling art you’re not happy with. Obviously art is a different thing, but it raises a question doesn’t it? Do you want art that you are not happy with to be out representing you?
If we match this up with scarcity being motivating .. what if you remove from sale (burn is an interesting way of doing that and could be a marketing moment, but .. it’s just a provocation) the works you are not happy with. So then, maybe you have fewer works to sell, but the quality is higher, your reputation rises.
Same thing with songwriting and albums, it came up yesterday, I’m in a songwriting group and the mega-successful tutor said they wrote 30/40 songs and recorded 4 for an EP. That means they pretty much discarded 90% of what they produced.
I’m working on scarcity, totally agree too. I have started to propose my secret (old) paintings to buyers who don’t have budget for my other newly painted artworks.
I want us to stop thinking of art like you’re a tradesperson. You’re not a painter and decorator. Try to get away from thinking about selling your time and materials. What you’re actually selling is what it’s worth to the person who perceives it. If what you’ve painted is the place where two lovers met, and one of them is stood in front of you wanting to buy .. to reduce that to “10 hours plus the cost of the paint & canvas” or whatever is to miss the point entirely. Of course, I’m not saying cynically you should ramp up the price in that scenario, I’m saying all of your output could probably be priced higher if you think in terms of value rather than an hourly rate.
And also what do you mean by « burn half your output »?
It’s a provocation intended to make you think. There are two things at play. First, this was triggered by an artist saying they priced a work higher if they are happy with it. And with my industry background my mind shot to Japanese manufacturing standards .. a particular story .. it might have been Dyson .. where the whole factory stopped because someone spotted a fingerprint on the body of a vacuum cleaner, and it didn’t restart until they worked out how it got there and ensured it never happened again. So tell me again about you selling art you’re not happy with. Obviously art is a different thing, but it raises a question doesn’t it? Do you want art that you are not happy with to be out representing you?
If we match this up with scarcity being motivating .. what if you remove from sale (burn is an interesting way of doing that and could be a marketing moment, but .. it’s just a provocation) the works you are not happy with. So then, maybe you have fewer works to sell, but the quality is higher, your reputation rises.
Same thing with songwriting and albums, it came up yesterday, I’m in a songwriting group and the mega-successful tutor said they wrote 30/40 songs and recorded 4 for an EP. That means they pretty much discarded 90% of what they produced.
I’m working on scarcity, totally agree too. I have started to propose my secret (old) paintings to buyers who don’t have budget for my other newly painted artworks.
Do you mean that prices are not related to size???
Hi Flo
I want us to stop thinking of art like you’re a tradesperson. You’re not a painter and decorator. Try to get away from thinking about selling your time and materials. What you’re actually selling is what it’s worth to the person who perceives it. If what you’ve painted is the place where two lovers met, and one of them is stood in front of you wanting to buy .. to reduce that to “10 hours plus the cost of the paint & canvas” or whatever is to miss the point entirely. Of course, I’m not saying cynically you should ramp up the price in that scenario, I’m saying all of your output could probably be priced higher if you think in terms of value rather than an hourly rate.
OK yes totally agree.