Is this normal practise for a contemporary art gallery?
I received an invitation to exhibit at a certain Gallery Gora in Montreal, which is very nice and flattering, but the fees they charge are so high! $2500 (+$700 deposit) for a solo exhibition, and for group shows $250 for the first piece of work & $150 for every additional ones +20% deposit.. Is this normal practise or just a rip off?? What on earth is the deposit for?? Does anyone know this gallery? What’s it like? Should I participate? All answers welcome! Thank you!
Yeah Alice, galleries don’t normally "invite" nobodies do they! Also they didn’t say which pieces they were interested in. Which is weird cos I have both paintings and ceramics.
True too. The gellery is huge, 8500 sq. ft. and close to the contemporary art museum of Montreal.
I’m really torn…
More on http://josonit.blogspot.com/
(second comment to derfini 
)
Debonair: the gallery looks very much real, huge white space (lots of pics on google), not an artist co-op. they might have seen my work in another exhibition in New Orleans but most likely on the internet (curated websites etc).
Forgot to say, all galleries mentioned are commercial. Gora says first $2500 of sales are commission free, after that it’s 60(artist) 40(gallery). Sounds fair enough to me given the location.
Thank you Debonair for that link! That is exactly what I received. I googled too but I didn’t come across that one!
Sounds unusual. An invitation,fee? Usually a gallery will sort of audition so to speak, by.looking at a portfolio and then deciding on an artist,,maybe occasionally inviting someone that they’ll see exhibiting at some non-commercial gallery event or possibly an artist they’ve seen at an out of town gallery.. And the monies involved are usually of a commission nature, ranging from 50-60% on top of (not from) what an artist wants for a piece. The artist gets his asking price the gallery gets their commission. Unless this particular gallery has a VERY successful reputation I’d personally be leery of giving them any money.
Now I do know of co-op galleries where artist have come together to rent a space to exhibit their work. They pay a monthly fee that goes toward the rent,utilities,exhibitions and general expenses.And the gallery gets a commission from sales,probably an amount agreed on by the group which then goes back into the fund for running the space.
Is this a real gallery or an on-going art fair?
I did a Google search on Gallery Gora. The search was flooded with stuff,mostly promotional in nature. Also the space seems to be a venue for events other than exhibiting art. As in ,concerts and wedding receptions(?). Multi-faceted money making? However I did find this one discussion that wasn’t associated with the gallery,and very questoning, there maybe be more of this nature further along in the full Google search below the first link…
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=67714
And the whole of the Google search:
http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=Gallery+Gora+in+Montreal%2C&btnG=Google+Search
You are in N.O.? I am in Lacombe La. Are you with a gallery in N.O. ? I am with one in Lafayette,La. Looking for a local gallery. You can email via my profile.
February 20th, 2010 at 8:16 am
That really sounds like a huge rip off to me, especially because they "invited" you.
References :
February 20th, 2010 at 8:54 am
I know it sounds expensive, but I assume it’s a commercial gallery with rent, lighting, rates and staff to pay, so the whole space (?) would be a bargain if it was for a period of so many days or weeks. The deposit is to make sure, once they have booked that space out to the artist, they have something to show for it if the artist decides not to go on with the show. If you went to a large Art & Craft fair for a long public holiday weekend (3 days) you’d have to pay that just for those days in a big city.
References :
February 20th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Sounds unusual. An invitation,fee? Usually a gallery will sort of audition so to speak, by.looking at a portfolio and then deciding on an artist,,maybe occasionally inviting someone that they’ll see exhibiting at some non-commercial gallery event or possibly an artist they’ve seen at an out of town gallery.. And the monies involved are usually of a commission nature, ranging from 50-60% on top of (not from) what an artist wants for a piece. The artist gets his asking price the gallery gets their commission. Unless this particular gallery has a VERY successful reputation I’d personally be leery of giving them any money.
Now I do know of co-op galleries where artist have come together to rent a space to exhibit their work. They pay a monthly fee that goes toward the rent,utilities,exhibitions and general expenses.And the gallery gets a commission from sales,probably an amount agreed on by the group which then goes back into the fund for running the space.
Is this a real gallery or an on-going art fair?
I did a Google search on Gallery Gora. The search was flooded with stuff,mostly promotional in nature. Also the space seems to be a venue for events other than exhibiting art. As in ,concerts and wedding receptions(?). Multi-faceted money making? However I did find this one discussion that wasn’t associated with the gallery,and very questoning, there maybe be more of this nature further along in the full Google search below the first link…
http://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=67714
And the whole of the Google search:
http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=Gallery+Gora+in+Montreal%2C&btnG=Google+Search
You are in N.O.? I am in Lacombe La. Are you with a gallery in N.O. ? I am with one in Lafayette,La. Looking for a local gallery. You can email via my profile.
References :