Why Art is Expensive (or so it seems)

One of the things I have had to justify a couple of times, both working at a gallery and as an artist, is why a piece of paper with chalk smudged on it so it looks like a dog  costs upwards of $300 (prices, of course, vary by gallery, artist and region).

The studio and visual arts are one of the few sections of the fine art worlds where what is purchased is the product of the performance. As such, while you as the audience may spend 15 minutes looking at an image, that's not even close to how long it  took to create. A "speed painting" done by a talented and experienced artist can still take 2-3 hours. Personally, most of my finished larger works can round on 16 to 20 hours of work for me.

Now, I've been to school to learn art, so if we assume that I kept track of an hourly wage, it's going to be more like $15-18 an hour because I didn't take out student loans to be paid minimum wage. So if I spend 16 hours on a piece, that's $240 in labor cost. Throw in the cost of materials (again that's gonna depend on the medium of the piece) and you can be looking at anything from an extra $20 to $60, as if you want to work in color lasting professional quality paint, the pigment count goes up (brands like Crayola use a lot of filler substances in their paint, which is great for kids, but it also doesn't have as bright and clear color as an artist grade) and you can be talking about $5 for 10oz of paint. So just by me finishing a piece I've invested something like $260 in it.

Then we take it to a framer. Some artist do their own framing, some of us salvage frames from re-sale shops, but it's unavoidable that sooner or later, an artist is going to have to go to a professional to get their work ready to hang. I've had basic matting run me $50 and a basic mat and frame closer to $100. If I want glass (and some galleries won't accept certain kinds of work without glass) I can be talking about a framing cost anywhere between $150 and $200. So now we have a piece costing $360.

If you're looking at art in a gallery, then the gallery is taking a commission on the work. At the Vertin we take a 40% commission on sales, this is actually not very much. It's more typical that a gallery takes a 50-60% commission on work. So if I want to make my $360 back, I'm gonna price my work at $600. So we're looking at a $600 price tag just so I can make back my investment, if I want to make a profit, and pay those self-employment taxes to the government, it's going to be more.

And now you know how art can cost thousands of dollars and the "starving artist" lifestyle still permeates an artist community. For every $1,000 painting sold, the artist is making $200 after taxes.