Breaking Into the Auctions:

Make Sure You do it Right

If you're like most every artist everywhere, you've probably dreamed about having a work of your art go on the block at a major auction house and watching the international art collecting elite battle for it with their bank accounts. The hammer falls, it sells for a record price and the news goes viral. At last you've achieved that most elusive of all goals-- financial freedom for life. From this point on, creating a work of art will be pretty much like printing up money.

OK. Dreamtime over. The truth is that auctions don't operate this way. In fact, performance at auction can compromise an artist's marketability just as easily as enhance it. So before you attempt to turn your auction fantasies into reality, take a moment to learn about how this sector of the art business works in order to maximize your chances for success.

To begin with, major auctions almost exclusively accept art by artists with established track records of selling for substantial prices at major auctions. Yes it's a Catch-22, but auctions are in business to make money and they want to be as sure as possible that every piece they sell nets a certain minimum dollar amount. Depending on the parameters of a particular house or particular sale, that amount might be $5000, $10000, $50000 or more.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, artists who make the auction cut at the highest levels have received so much publicity and recognition during the course of their careers that the mere mention of their names in press releases, auction announcements, and auction catalogues is enough to attract major private and institutional buyers to a sale. The demand for their art is typically equal to or greater than the rate at which they produce it, they've had numerous successful shows both at museums and galleries, and the foremost critics and experts agree that their impact on the art world is significant.

Artists with little or no auction experience, but relatively consistent careers usually debut at lesser sales. Here again, an artist's resume and exhibition history has to be respectable as the auction needs some kind of evidence that their art stands a reasonable chance of selling for certain minimum amounts of money. The downside here is that in order to maximize the possibility of the art selling, the auctions often require presale estimates (price ranges they suggest to bidders that art might sell for) to be significantly below retail.

For example, a piece of art that would normally sell at a gallery for $10000 might be estimated to sell at $3000-$5000 at auction, perhaps even less. Rather than rely totally on the accomplishments of the artists to attract bidders, the auction houses tilt the odds in their favor by additionally offering the prospect of bargains. Being amenable to lower estimates is usually worth the sacrifice from the artist's standpoint if that's the only way an established auction house will agree to accept their art. Don't be insulted; be delighted. Getting your art into auction is anything but easy, and that first sales result is absolutely critical to establishing your credentials in that realm. Do everything you can to maximize the chances not only of an auction house accepting your art, but way more importantly, selling it.

A less common way that artists with little or no previous auction experience occasionally break into higher level sales is when their work is in famous collections that are placed up for sale in their entireties. The biggest names in the collections draw the crowds as do the importance of the collectors (like Warhol, Mapplethorpe or Kennedy, for example). Artists who make their auction debuts in this manner tend to be presented not so much in terms of their own accomplishments, but rather as talents whose art the high-profile collectors felt was significant enough to include in their collections. Regardless of how the auction represents the art, this is a great way to get that all-important first shot.

However your art finds its way to auction (and it will usually be through individuals or entities other than yourself), know that the majority of sales take place within or slightly above or below the auction houses' presale estimates. Record or near-record prices, or sales that substantially exceed presale estimates are the exception. So know going in that the large majority of art sells below what it would be priced at in retail galleries. Except for the upper echelons of the trade, and particularly with respect to rare and highly important artworks, or in cases of isolated celebrity sales, auctions are basically wholesale dispersals of goods. The good news is that knowledgeable buyers understand the difference between auction prices and retail prices, so don't worry if your art sells for somewhat less than retail (50% or more). Worry if it sells for way less than retail or doesn't sell at all.

Whenever a work of art sells at auction, the hammer price becomes a matter of public record. Even if the art fails to sell, that non-sale or "buy-in" is still recorded. All auction sales results from significant regional, national, and international auctions (currently in the vicinity of 300,000-400,000 individual artworks per year) are published annually in online databases, or sometimes DVD formats. Online databases include artnet.com, artprice.com, artvalue.com, artfact.com, findartinfo.com, and more.

Anyone can access these sales records at anytime (usually for a fee)... and plenty of dealers and collectors do. Studying auction prices helps them decide whether or not to buy particular works of art or to patronize particular artists. Experienced higher-level buyers tend to pay more for artists who consistently sell well at auction and tend to avoid or be cautious around those who have no records at all or perform poorly or erratically. They also recognize that the greater the discrepancy between an artist's retail and auction prices, the weaker or less stable that artist's overall market tends to be.

In order for your art to be accepted at auction, you should be represented by at least one gallery, have a reasonably solid collector base, a consistent sales history with steadily increasing prices, favorable reviews in respected arts publications (online and otherwise), have been included in significant established exhibitions at respected institutions (regional, national or international), and most importantly, have some indication from art business professionals that your art may be ready for auction and stands a reasonable chance of fetching a respectable price. The auction option is still worth considering without all of the above, but the fewer qualifications you have, the less likely the chances that an auction will accept your art in the first place, and if they do, the greater the risk that it will either sell low or not sell at all. Neither of these outcomes is particularly good for an artist's career.

Begin auction inquiries by speaking with your gallery, dealer or representative. Hopefully they'll agree with you that approaching auctions is a good career move at this time-- and hopefully they'll be the ones to oversee this. The object of these conversations and inquiries is to find a third party, preferably someone known to the auction community, to offer your work to the auction house. (Don't think for an instant that you can do this yourself; auction houses hardly ever accept first-time consignments directly from artists.) Whoever the consignor turns out to be, they should be prepared to present a reasonably solid case that your art will sell for whatever minimum price the auction house requires for its consignments.

That person should typically approach auction houses in locations where you have the highest name recognition and where your work is the most collectible. As for the auction itself, make sure they have someone knowledgeable about art on their staff, and that they have consistent success selling contemporary art (you don't want your art consigned to a firm with no experience). Hopefully you have a good number of collectors, they'll be advised of the forthcoming sale, a reasonable number will attend, and last but not least-- they'll bid.

As for the art itself, make sure that whoever approaches the auction house offers a better quality work for consignment. Good choices include a piece from a show that nearly sold out, one that was pictured in a magazine review or exhibit catalogue, one that's not easy to find on the open market, or one that's similar in composition to pieces that your collectors prize the most. You don't want the art to be anything you want to get rid of or that you think is second rate. That tact could backfire and net you an embarrassingly low selling price.

If your art is accepted, be prepared to deal with low presale estimates and also for the art to sell below retail. Look at this as the start of a long term investment in your financial future-- your art regularly selling at auction-- not an insult or slap in the face. Getting that first sales record is the hardest, but once you've got it, other auction houses will be more inclined to see you as marketable in their realm, and from that point on (assuming you continue onward and upward in your career), auction selling prices will likely increase.

If your art fares reasonably well, avoid the temptation to go overboard and view auctions as a panacea. Over-consigning or giving collectors the impression that your art is easy to come by is never good. In order for your auction selling prices to increase over time, you must continue to advance your agenda in traditional ways-- through gallery shows and significant institutional exhibitions-- and use the auction option judiciously and strategically along the way. For example, good times to place an artwork or two up for sale might be immediately after or in conjunction with a successful museum or gallery show, when you receive a lot of publicity or a major commission, or at any other moment when your career makes a noticeable move in the upward direction.

As your "marketability" improves, your art will likely be placed up for sale at auction by more and more people-- dealers, brokers, collectors, estates and so on. This process typically takes years and often decades from the date of your first consignment, but sooner or later, consistent strong performance at auction pretty much becomes self-perpetuating.

For those of you who have little or no hope of getting into auction at this time, one possibility is to approach a smaller local or regional house with the idea of having a theme sale dedicated to art by local or regional artists. If you, your fellow artists, and some dedicated supporters with a little clout in the art community can put together enough good art and convince the auction house that attendance will be healthy and sales good, this concept might work. No matter what your approach, make sure you've got the support of those who buy, sell and collect your art.

Consigning to an occasional charity or fundraiser auction is also a decent way to get your feet wet. If your art sells consistently well in these types of circumstances, approaching an actual auction house at some point would be recommended. To learn more about how to maximize your success at fundraiser auctions, read Art Auction Fundraiser Tips.