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Gallery representation
Artist gallery representation can be viewed as a pyramid. This is not intended as a value judgement, but rather as a clear visual aid and analytical framework of understanding. At the apex are the relatively few artists with traditional gallery representation, while at the broad base there are 100,000, by last count, who manage their own careers. This pyramid reflects sheer numbers, not quality or subjective taste.
Within the pyramid’s layers, there are platforms ranging from self-managed tools (for example, TikTok, Instagram) to digital sales platforms (for example, the open to all Bluethumb or the highly curated National Emerging Art Prize), artist-run initiatives (ARIs) in physical spaces, and various levels of artist and art gallery representation offered across galleries small and big, well-resourced and not.
These stratifications were once distinct, but today they overlap dynamically – and that is a positive evolution.
The style of management an artist chooses within this pyramidal framework is directly proportional to the level of hands-on involvement they desire or can obtain in their own career. Some artists actively choose to manage their careers entirely, while many have no choice but to do so.
This ‘artist as master of their own destiny’ model is increasingly relevant and must be fully championed by all. We are witnessing artists forging new paths to success by adapting to new technologies in ways that established galleries often resist.
The rise of gallery closures
Art galleries come and go, and then more go. Such is the reality of the Australian commercial art gallery industry. Overall, there are far fewer bricks-and-mortar art galleries today than there were even a decade ago.
If you look at the Perth art market, for example, I remember when there were 16 notable commercial art galleries in Perth. Today, there are maybe 10. This year, Artereal Gallery, Sydney (2006–April 2025), Beaver Galleries, Canberra (1975–2004), Cement Fondu, Sydney (2018–2024), Gagprojects, Adelaide (1991–2024), Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra, The Main Gallery, Adelaide (2019–2024), Gallery Pompom, Sydney (2012-2024), RAFT Artspace, Alice Springs (2001-2024) and The Strand Gallery, Port Elliot (2015–2024) closed their doors (or will do so shortly).
The rising costs of real estate have pushed the modernist ‘white cube’ gallery model out of reach for many players in the art market.
The rise of social platforms as dealers
The rise of online sales has also reshaped the industry. Platforms like Instagram and artist-selling websites offer direct access to buyers, reducing the necessity of physical gallery spaces. While this shift has democratised the art market and, particularly over the pandemic, boosted sales, it has come at a cost.
The tactile, immersive experience of a traditional gallery – a vital element for many works of art – cannot be fully replicated online. This presents a unique challenge for artists and galleries striving to maintain their physical relevance while capitalising on the benefits of digital access.
The rise of social media, and the decline of bricks-and-mortar galleries over the past decade, has disrupted the previous near century-long artist and art gallery representation model and relationship. Today, in terms of the sheer volume of numbers this is the avenue through which most artists represent themselves, and this demographic reality will most likely, through sheer numbers, become the dominant form of future artist representation.
This observation is not a value judgement on which model is better, but a reflection on the increasing number of Australians identifying as artists in a market with dramatically fewer physical exhibition spaces.
Read: Why I left my art gallery
A consistent bedrock for representation
However, amid this near constant change, one thing remains steadfast: the core role the art gallery has with regard to artist representation. Wise, sound art market counsel and strategic career advice will always be the bedrock of value that good art galleries provide to their artists.
The key role of quality gallery representation lies in highly focused and strategic professional career management. This extends far beyond the logistics of organising exhibitions (both domestically and internationally) or facilitating transactions between artists, art museums and private clients.
Alongside sales, gallery representation from an exceptional gallery provides long-term strategic artist career management.
I am, by nature, a highly strategic person – coldly so. My colleagues and I rely on our experience and knowledge to provide world-class art market advice, shaping both our artists and their careers. Few, if any, galleries in this country have a track record as proven as ours in uncovering talent and projecting it into a broad domestic and increasingly international audience.
Through my congregation of galleries and the National Emerging Art Prize, my colleagues and I work with artists and collectors from the very outset of their journeys moving artists towards critical, national and international elevated art market profiles and reputations. Our role extends beyond uncovering or discovery; often the most challenging years for an artist occur during the mid-career phase, after being labelled ‘established’. These years lie between the energetic optimism of being ’emerging’ and the venerable status of a ‘national treasure’.
Successfully navigating these tricky mid-career years is crucial. My colleagues and I have established a highly specific artist mid-career management strategy, one that is working successfully to maintain established contemporary artists on the national collecting radar, and indeed amplifying their careers from the established to the venerable.
The primary value of working with an experienced, high-quality gallery lies in its ability to guide and direct an artist’s career with expertise. If a gallery cannot offer this, it functions as little more than a shopkeeper selling art.
Only a wealthy gallerist playing with inherited money, indulging in a vanity project turned art gallery, can afford the luxury of maintaining an unexamined, ‘full steam ahead’ approach to artist management.
A good gallerist or art dealer, who needs to stand on their own two feet, rethinks their management strategies almost daily. Contemporary art, after all, exists in the now.
The galleries that succeed within the serious matter of artist representation are those that specialise in artist management. As the philosopher Adam Smith explained in his landmark 1776 volume, The Wealth of Nations, ‘specialisation aids production’.
Good art galleries become an art collecting and acquisition hub for the many different players in the Australian arts industry – from government to art museums, curators, collectors, architects and interior design professionals, to name but a few.
In line with offering many artist-interested parties a focal point for their interests, major art galleries are today diversifying their spaces, incorporating cafés, bookstores or workshops to enhance visitor engagement. The internationally spanning mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth, with its Los Angeles art gallery, restaurant, bar, on-site orchard and chicken coop, sets the benchmark for broad audience engagement.
By turning their premises into multidimensional experiences, these galleries attract foot traffic and foster a sense of community, drawing audiences that may otherwise be lost to online platforms or art fairs. As an arts hub with multidimensional engagement as a core focused skill, a good art gallery can provide an arts ecosystem for its represented artists, alongside wise advice.
Read: Should I offer workshops to help the cash flow?
The Australian art market is at a crossroads
Ultimately, the Australian art market is at a crossroads. The artists and galleries that adapt – by embracing technology, responding to shifting buyer habits, engaging with their audience and building flexible, symbiotic relationships with a cross section of new players – will not only survive, but thrive.
As artist independence grows and buying behaviours continue to evolve, the future belongs to those who are willing to innovate, cooperate and change. While the number of galleries may shrink in the years ahead, those that endure will be stronger, more adaptive and better equipped to navigate the challenges of an ever-changing industry and the all-important question of artist representation.
