Breaking Into the Auctions: Make Sure You do it Right

Virtually every artist fantasizes about having a piece of their art go up for sale at a major auction and watching the international art collecting elite battle over it with their bank accounts. It sells for a record or near record price and the story is reported in all the right trade publications. At last, they've achieved that most elusive of goals-- financial freedom for life. From this point on, creating a work of art will be no different than printing up a bucket full of money.

O.K. Dreamtime is over. The truth is that auctions don't operate this way. In fact, damaging your marketability by selling your art in this venue may be just as likely as enhancing it. So before you attempt to turn your auction fantasies into reality, take a moment to learn about how this segment of the art business works and 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. This seems like 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 constraints of a particular sale, that amount might be $5,000, $10,000, $50,000, or more.

Artists who make the auction cut at the highest levels have received enough publicity and recognition that the mere mention of their names in press releases, sales announcements, and catalogues is enough to attract major private and institutional buyers. The demand for their art is equal to or greater than their abilities to produce it. They've had numerous successful shows both at museums and galleries. The foremost critics and experts agree that their impact on the art world is significant.

Second or third tier artists occasionally break into high level auctions because 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 does the importance of the collectors. Artists who debut in this manner tend to be presented not so much in terms of their own accomplishments, but rather as talents whose art the collectors felt was significant enough to include in their collections. Regardless of how these artists are presented, this is a great way to get that all important first shot.

Artists with no auction experience, but relatively consistent careers usually debut in lesser sales. Here again, exhibition histories have to be respectable and the auctions need reasonable proof that the art will sell for certain minimum amounts of money. The downside is that in order to maximize the possibility of the art selling, the auctions often require presale estimates to be significantly below retail.

For example, a piece of art that would normally sell at a gallery for $5000 might be estimated to sell at $1000-$2000. Rather than rely totally on the accomplishments of the artists to attract bidders, the auction houses stack the deck in their favor by also offering the prospect of bargains. Allowing low estimates is usually worth the sacrifice from the artist's standpoint if that's the only way a respectable auction will agree to accept their art. That first sales result is absolutely crucial in order to establish auction credentials.

The majority of art at auction sells within or slightly above or below its presale estimates. Record or near-record prices or sales that substantially exceed presale estimates are the exception. Almost all art sells below what it would be priced at in gallery settings. Except at the highest levels of the trade or in cases of isolated celebrity sales, auctions are basically wholesale dispersals of goods.

Whenever a work of art sells at auction, the hammer price becomes a matter of public record. Even if it fails to sell, that non-sale or "buy-in" is still recorded. All art sales results from significant regional, national, and international auctions (currently over 200,000 per year) are published annually in book, online database and CD-ROM formats.

Anyone can access these sales records at anytime and plenty of dealers and collectors do. Auction price information helps them decide whether or not to buy particular works of art or to patronize particular artists. Experienced buyers tend to pay more for artists who sell well at auction and to avoid artists who perform poorly. They recognize that the greater the discrepancy between an artist's retail and auction prices, the weaker and less stable that artist's overall market generally is.

If you're thinking about breaking into auction, you should have a reasonably solid collector base, a consistent sales history with steadily increasing prices, favorable reviews in arts publications, inclusion in significant juried shows, gallery or agent representation and, most importantly, be pretty sure that your art will fetch a respectable price. You can still consider the auction option without all of the above, but the fewer qualifications you have, the greater the risk that your art will either sell low or not sell at all. Neither of these outcomes will be good for your career.

Begin auction inquiries by speaking with your dealer or agent. They should understand, support, and agree that this is a good career move at this time. Make sure they know that you're not going around them in order to make extra money. Also make sure that you're not violating any contractual arrangements.

Select a third party, preferably someone known to the auction community, to present your work. Auction experts rarely accept first time consignments from artists who represent themselves. Whoever you use should be able to show reasonable proof that your art will sell for whatever minimum price the auction house requires for its consignments.

Only approach auction houses in locations where you have the highest name recognition and your work is the most collectible. For their part, make sure they've had previous success selling contemporary art (you don't want to consign to a firm with no experience). Assure them that all of your major collectors will be notified of the sale, that a good number will likely attend, and that they'll bid against each other for the art.

Consign a better quality piece of your work. Possible 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 similar to pieces that collectors prize the most. Avoid consigning anything that you want to get rid of or that you think is second rate. That tact could backfire and net you a very low selling price.

If your art is accepted, be prepared to take low presale estimates and also for the art to sell below retail. View this as the first phase of a long term investment, not as an insult or slap in the face. Getting that first sales record is the hardest and once you've got it, any auction house anywhere will be able to see that you're marketable in their arena.

If your art fares reasonably well, avoid the temptation to put up too much at auction too fast. You don't want to flood the market and give collectors the impression that your art is easy to come by. In order for your auction selling prices to increase over time, you must continue to advance in your career and use the auction option wisely. Good times to put an additional piece or two up for sale are after or in conjunction with successful museum or gallery shows, when you receive significant publicity or a major commission, or at any other moment when your career makes a noticeable move in the upward direction.

Once your auction marketability reaches a certain point, your collectors will begin to put your art up for sale on their own. This could be years or even decades down the road from your first consignment, but once it happens, your auction credentials will be well established and self perpetuating.

If you have little or no hope of getting into auction, one possibility is to approach a local auction house with the idea of having a theme sale dedicated to art by regional artists. If you, your fellow artists, and a handful of supporters with a little clout in the art community can put together enough good work and guarantee the auction house healthy attendance and a certain take, this concept might work. Once again, participating artists should make sure they're not going around dealers or violating contractual arrangements.