Gallery Representation

A few months ago, I submitted a few images to a national juried

photo competition. I was denied.

 

Today I received an email from the director of the gallery in NYC

that hosted the competition, stating that while my images were not

selected for the competition, that they were of high enough caliber

and marketable enough that the gallery was interested in

representing me and marketing my work.

 

The catch? "We in turn must ask you to share with us the financial

investment. This financial investment is offset by a higher

commission structure for the artist."

 

The pricing structure is that I would have to pay $3000 up front for

representation, as well as covering all the costs for printing,

matting and framing my work. I would receive 70% from all sales.

 

The gallery would present my work as part of a group show in

December, as well as advertising my work in their gallery and

through print and web media.

 

I can't help but feel I am being scammed. Unless I were to sell

between 50-75 prints over the course of the year (which I guess is

feasible) I would not even brake even financially.

 

I should note that this is a well known gallery with two locations

in the SoHo and Chelsea areas of NYC.

 

Any thoughts regarding this?

 

Many thanks,

Dave

Sounds dubious to me. I haven't seen the contract, but I bet the gallery's obligations are not exactly air-tight.

 

Find some other photographers they represent and ask them how it's gone. Something tells me you will hear tales of disappointment.

I'd never pay up-front to sell my prints. If they go out of business in three months, you lose your money, and possibly your prints.

 

Co-op galleries often require a payment, but it doesn't sound like that's the case here.

This may be a well-known gallery in NYC but they are looking for chumps to help them pay their rent. I would run from this "opportunity". They would have absolutely zippo, nada, zilch motivation to sell your work after they get the $3,000 up front. Did you have to pay to submit your images to the "national juried contest"? If you did, these bandits made money all the way around.

<i>Did you have to pay to submit your images to the "national juried contest"?</i><p>

 

Contests almost always have a submission fee. I can't think of seeing one that didn't. Scroll down the page <a href="http://www.theartlist.com/">here</a> to get some insight into this.

This is a "vanity" gallery mining the mailing list they bought from the show organizers. Avoid like the plague.

Thanks, all.

 

Sounds like my gut insctinct is confirmed. I wasn't enticed by this once I read the fine print, but I also wanted to hear what others thought.

 

Best,

Dave

Even though there's one born every minute, I can't imagine they'll find enough suckers to keep them afloat. This outfit will be out of business really soon now, their prestigious Soho location notwithstanding (or maybe even because of it).