Q: I'm fairly successful as far as artists go and make my living entirely by selling my art. I don't make lots of money, but I make enough to live comfortably. My situation is that I make art much faster than I sell it, so I'm wondering whether I can increase sales by selling through more galleries. The two local galleries I work with sell a lot of my art, but they don't like this idea much. I also want to work with galleries in other parts of the country. What do you recommend?

A: Increasing the number of galleries that sell your art is a good idea as long as you're careful how you do it. The key is to control the amount of art you have on the market, the number of galleries that sell it, and where those galleries are. If you saturate the market with too much art, or give too many galleries the right to sell it, you run into problems.

Basically, the more success a gallery has selling your art, the more time they spend selling it; the less success they have, the less time they spend selling it. Suppose, for example, that a gallery holds two successful shows of your art per year. They'll keep that schedule as long as your shows continue to be successful. If one of those shows stops being successful, the gallery will replace it with another show and only show your work once per year. In other words, they'll spend less time selling your art, and you'll become less of a "star" at that gallery.

You're currently a star at two galleries. They sell a lot of your art so make sure they approve of any career moves on your part; you don't want to upset them. If you put too much art on the local market through new galleries, something you can easily do since you make art much faster than it sells, you run the risk of making your art too easy to get and, therefore, compromising your status at those two galleries. They'll lose sales to the new galleries, and that's why they oppose an increase.

They'll also lose exclusivity because what once could only be bought through them will now be found at other galleries. Eventually, they may even have to cut prices on your art in order to compete with new galleries. The more sales they lose, the less time they spend selling your art, and the less of a star you are at those galleries. At worst, they lose too many sales and drop you altogether-- an unlikely outcome, but still one to keep in mind.

Your best tact is to look for new galleries in other parts of the country. The farther they are from the two galleries you have now, the better. In fact, keep these two galleries happy by telling them what you're doing and asking for their suggestions. You might even let them expand your market for you. One gallery approaching another gallery with a business proposition generally carries more weight than an artist approaching a gallery.

Even though you have plenty of art to sell, add one gallery at a time, and seriously consider making agreements with each gallery not to compete in any way with your current galleries. Wait long enough between galleries to see how your overall market is affected. Monitor that delicate balance between the amount of art you have for sale and number of people interested in owning it. In order for your selling prices to hold steady or go up, you have to maintain a degree of exclusivity around your art.

When you get really famous and can hardly make art enough fast enough to satisfy the demand, then go after lots of galleries everywhere. But as long as you produce art faster than it sells, don't make it too easy for galleries or collectors to get-- even if you get really well known, even if you can make two pieces per hour and eventually sell them for $3,000 each. The easier it is to get, the less people think of it. Collectors like to believe they're getting something special when they buy art, not something they can get anywhere, at any time, and with little effort.

Additional pointers for artists who make art faster than it sells:

* The more art you have on the market in relation to the size of your collector base, the weaker your prices tend to be. For example, if you have 50 serious collectors and 400 works of art on the market, those collectors will be more inclined to shop around and bargain on prices before they buy.

* Assuming you don't have a substantial collector base, the more galleries that offer your art, the weaker your prices tend to be. You may get whatever prices you consign the art to the galleries for, but the galleries may undercut each other at the retail level in order to move more art. As a result, your retail prices suffer.

* Never sell art out of your studio at prices less than galleries sell it for. At best, galleries will give priority to other artists and show your work only when asked. At worst, galleries will stop representing you.

* If an occasional piece of your art comes onto the secondary market priced substantially below what it sells for at your galleries, seriously consider buying it back or contacting a gallery or collector and having them buy it. One of the easiest ways to hurt your retail price structure (and your reputation) is to let your art sit unsold at low prices on secondary markets.