It’s Only Art?

Recently I have spoken with several gallery owners who claim they can only sell objective or figural work. Some of these
galleries have standing in their respective communities, but claim people might look at somewhat abstracted paintings but
that they cannot make sales with purely abstract or nonobjective paintings.

I cannot personally analyze whether this is a self-fulfilling prophesy on the part of the gallerists, but some of them do carry one or two nonobjective painters within those represented.  Other galleries claim to have no such problems and may even handle nonobjective painters predominantly. These two groups of galleries seem to be roughly equivalent in other factors. Why this happens I cannot say. I look at both types of painting with interest.

There are some excellent nonobjective painters out there to choose from. In fact I ran a quick survey and found five easily accessed websites that show some beautiful works. These artists have had some exposure on CAG as well.

Merlin Emrys

David Tycho

James Pearson

Rosetta DeBerardinis

Scott Foxx

Certainly every gallerist must have preferences, and I would be surprised if there weren’t some trends in the preferences
of their clientele, but it will take some further analysis to determine the different demographics in these two groups.

There is a third group as well, those who show only nonobjective painters. My favorite gallery of this third group is Stephen Haller’s gallery in Chelsea, NY.

If you know of a gallery that specializes in nonobjective painting and art please let me know by comment.

- Daniel Ferris

My friend Tia Marks recently published a piece in Ezine.com about the process of commissioning works of art.   She covers  the  process of finding  an art style that you like, negotiating price and terms, receiving and displaying the artwork

In addition to the general discussion, Tia adds the example of her own purchase of commissioned works from  artist  Brad  Bannister.  Bannister has a website - http://abstractpainting-bannister.com  that she began with.   Below is one example of Bannister’s work.

Daniel Ferris

Please read the upcoming article on Kristen Beith at Contemporary Art Gallery Magazine. - Danie Ferris

I have been working on an article about current abstract painting. I ran across a very interesting portfolio by painter, Lily Prillinger. You can see much more of her work at her website

Daniel Ferris