Miami Art Fair; photo ArtsHub
First impressions are everything at art fairs.
How you lure collectors into your booth while creating an accurate snapshot of who you are and what you do is not an easy task – especially in x meters sq. And for some galleries, it can mean the difference of make and break. After all, art fairs are not cheap things, where the starting price for a booth usually sits around $20,000.
Getting it right is a considered and complex decision. ArtsHub caught up with several “veterans” in the art fair circuit to field their advice in planning your fair booth.
Adeline Ooi, Director of Asia Art Basel, put it simply: ‘Less is more.’
Art fairs are visually congested as a rule with in excess of a hundred galleries presenting artworks of varying styles and palettes. Some galleries choose to exhibit a single artist as a means to filter that clutter, while others prefer to be more representative of their stable of artists and spread the odds in terms of sales.
Barry Keldoulis, Director of Art Fairs Australia, warned that you must be consistent with the quality and the artists you take. ‘If you are successful with an artist you want to keep up that visual consistency, while also giving the opportunity to intro other artists and test the waters.’
Keldoulis said that a solo show was generally more elegant – more like a gallery setting – and perhaps better represented an artist’s work, however, he warned that it was ‘just showing one of your galleries many legs.’ He added: ‘I always found it difficult to justify especially to my other artists.’
Ooi added to the conversation: ‘I understand that sometimes it is really difficult for a gallery as you have a roster of artists and a responsibility to them. It is all about diplomacy when you faced with, “Why am I not in the selection?” You try to play fair. There is a whole complex set of considerations to take into account.’
And while a solo show can be augmented with books and ipPad presentations of your gallery’s stable of artists, it can lack ‘something of the flavour of the gallery,’ said Keldoulis.
‘You also don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. These days (how many artists you take) also depends on budget of course – with extra walling you can create discrete spaces within your booth, effectively creating small solo shows within a group show. That would be the ideal situation.’
ArtsHub spoke with Sydney Dealer Darren Knight, who showed the work of Jon Campbell at Art Basel HK in 2015. He believes that doing a solo booth show is much easier than a group show. ‘It means a smaller book which is not as expensive, especially for a first show. I really like the consideration a solo booth offers. You can learn from it.’
Melbourne dealer Geoff Newton, of Neon Parc agreed: ‘Generally solo is easier to talk about than six artists. It is a bit more concise, especially if people are not aware of your artists and what you do.’
Newton did his first fair in 2008, has just come off the heels of the Miami’s December fairs where he presented Darren Sylvester at NADA, and in April 2015 presented a new body of Dale Frank’s paintings at Art Cologne. He is a consistent participator in these fairs.
‘Each fair has its own flavour, whether it be local or international,’ said Newton. ‘Darren was perfect (for Miami) – it is a good example of taking the right work at the right time. The presentation was big and glossy – it stood out and we sold work.’
Miami fair visitors enjoy Neon Parc’s booth showing Darren Sylvester’s work. Courtesy the artist and Neon Parc; Photo Darren Sylvester.
Ooi said that the best advice she could offer a gallerist was to play to their strengths. ‘Don’t pander to the [art fair] audience, I mean, do what with this [booth] what you would with your own programming.’
‘You need them (collectors) to be drawn in to your booth – to capture them with intrigue, and once you get them then you have to be up on your feet talking – engaging them,’ said Keldoulis.
‘You have to judge the requirements of each person. The good ones (dealers) can do that, You certainly can’t be looking grumpy. And you have to be aware of the culture where you are trying to conduct business.’ Keldoulis added: ‘It took me many years when I was first doing Hong Kong, to “negotiate”, for want of better word. I only realised after 4 or 5 years that it wasn’t about barginning me down; it was a form of engagement. They wanted both of us to be happy.’
With 81 art fairs under his belt, veteran Adelaide dealer Paul Greenaway (SA) said that the most important element in preparing for a fair and presenting a booth is to be ‘incredibly flexible’.
‘It’s not like you get it right and keep to it. It is going to change, and the fair will continue to change. There is no formula you can come up,’ added Greenaway, insinuating that the best policy was to remain “in touch” with the fair and the zeitgeist that surrounds it.
Greenaway’s first fair was ARCO (Madrid) in 2002; they took GAGPROJECTS to Art Dubai in 2016, presenting the work of Hossein Valamanesh, Angela Valamanesh, Noel McKenna, Juz Kitson, Ariel Hassan, Nasim Nasr.
Darren Knight who, like Greenaway started with ARCO in 2002, headed to Hong Kong for the first time in 2015. He said flatly on the topic of booths: ‘There is no best commercial decision; there is only the best art decision.’
‘They are hard things to do, financially, despite the fact that the Australia Council are helping us with this fair (Art Basel HK), which it makes a huge difference. You are taking a huge financial risk and (the likelihood is that) you are not going to make money.’
Newton added to the conversation with jest: ‘Advice to other galleries? Don’t do it; stay at home!’ Adding with a more serious tone: ‘Without going to so many fairs it would be difficult to get access to lot of work that I have brought out (to Australia) over a numbers of years. But if you are standing there in person, it makes a difference. People can see you are serious.’
Can you set yourself apart? ‘It would have been easy to answer that ten years ago when generally fairs were stock shows, however, as the scene has become more competitive everyone is driving to stand out. Now if everyone does a solo it would be the stock show that stands out!’ said Keldoulis.
Working fairs in the US in the late 1990s, the gallery I was Director with would rehang the booth daily, use pop coloured walls to section the booth, and even offer entertainment, one year presenting an installation by famed ant farm artist Yukinori Yanagi. Did it sell more work than now? Simply, no.
Greenaway summed up the general feeling that it is largely impossible to punch out of the horde. Most things have been tried, and while colour walls or solo hangs or perhaps even just a large single work might create difference, setting yourself apart is a thing of the past. He concluded: ‘I don’t think you do. I think you can try too hard. Just stick to what you do best.’
Summary:
1. Less is more
2. Play to your strengths – your gallery’s programming
3. Quality and consistency are key in the choice of work
4. Create intrigue – you want to snare their interest and draw them in
5. Don’t pander to the art fair audience – engage them and be culturally alert, but do what you do best. Be confident in your own programming.
6. Be incredibly flexible – fairs are constantly changing and you needs to keep evolving with them.
More tips and tricks:
- Prepare material on all your artists, not just those presented in the booth but your full stable. A good idea is to create an iPad presentation. It is less heavy than carrying books and binders.
- People love a “take away” – it is largely thrown in the bin – but nevertheless a “booth card” will offer people a memory trigger. And don’t forgot to stock up on your personal business cards early.
- Have somewhere for people to leave their business cards or contact details. The whole reason you are there is to grow your contact base.
- Promote your activities back home. Social media news about heading to the fair – who you are taking, what you are taking – and then journey people through your time abroad. For those who can’t make it, this behind the scenes look at art fairs is interesting, especially the sales and celebrity or Australian art world booth visits!
- Think about your signage. There will be standard booth signage, but you need to determine how you will label works. Today people will snap an image and its label on their phone to follow up later – so don’t be too obscure. But then don’t be too bold either – it can be tacky – some galleries do big bold signage playing off big names in an attempt at snagging the eye.
- To paint or not to paint your booth? This is an additional cost but it can make your booth memorable, however, it must make sense in terms of the work you are showing.
- Work that booth. I know it is tiring, but get off your feet and talk to people – be approachable. The old adage is even truer today, “you can’t judge a book by its cover”, especially on the public days when people are more relaxed. Cashed up collectors can be surprising.
- Stay focused. It is good to network with colleagues and friends but you are there for business, and everyone understands that. There is nothing more off putting if you have a question about a work and the dealer is gossiping with someone. Stay alert to the dynamics of your booth at all times.
- Get your payment methods sorted out. Be really clear of the taxes, freight costs, discounts you can offer. Art fairs can be fast paced and a tough sell. Know your boundaries and calculate your limits well before the doors open. Have an invoice template ready to go.
- Get your equipment right. Don’t forget the charger and will you need a portable printer? Prepare your phone plan for international roaming. I would even recommend packing a back up drill and basic tools and stationery in your suitcase. Sometimes your crates are slow to your booth for install / deinstall and, worse still, if you are reliant on crew to supply these things, get in line with the other 120+ galleries showing.
- Plan a seating area – collectors get exhausted too! To sit down and have a conversation is a golden opportunity to bring them up to speed on what you are doing, and catch up where their collecting is heading. That said, don’t block your entrance with a long table or lounge – or worse still cluster in the entry – flow and booth design remains key.
- And any art fair veteran would add to plan a nook or closet, somewhere to lock away your handbag, your laptop and to stash that extra pair of “flatties” to don on when the feet are barking. This area is also vital for back up stock to rotate when works are sold or for smaller works that might support those on display.
