Friday, August 21, 2009

Help making an artwork sale

Do you like a sculpture but can’t for the life of you figure out what to put it on? Could it go on the Chippendale table – on the arts & crafts side table? Are you thinking about buying an artwork but are leery of installing it yourself? Will you mar the sculpture or hurt yourself? Need some help on where to place an artwork?

All of these require a simple solution: ask the seller of the artwork. A lot of the time, gallery personnel will install the artwork at no charge or a nominal charge when you buy the artwork from them. Same with artists.

Photo: Takou Sculpture at Somerhill Gallery

Particularly with sculpture, ask the sculptor if they could make or suggest a pedestal for the sculpture. This will give you a pedestal in keeping with the sculpture instead of an unattractive plywood box painted white or black. For an article on pedestal design: http://www.wsggallery.com/Web-Page-Articles/Pedestal-Design.htm

One time for an install, I drove 450 miles round trip to install a sculpture properly in the customers’ house (I did get an install fee for that). The gallery was going to hire a local moving company to move in the sculpture. I proposed that I would come down and install the sculpture, pedestal for the sculpture and also give a couple of ideas where the sculpture would look best. Upon arrival, the wonderful client gave me several options. Looking at the layout of the room and how all the furnishings interacted – it was a snap.

So if you like the artwork or sculpture but are unsure of how to install it – you might be surprised how much help you could get installing it for free or a nominal fee.

copyright 2009 Carl Wright

1 comment:

Somerhill Gallery said...

Great blog! Thanks so much for having a picture of our beautiful space! All the best.