Music for the Eyes is a mixed exhibition at the 89 Mayne Street Gallery in Gulgong in the New South Wales mid-west. Now I will grant you Gulgong isn't the artistic centre of the universe,  — although every three years it is the venue for one of the World's major ceramics festivals — but it is a pretty typical small town in rural Australia.
      At 89 Mayne Street the exhibitors are mainly local artists and the standard is variable. It is comparatively new so it hasn't built up a large stable of contributing artists so the same names crop up in each show. Three of them are photographers.
      The gallery is owned by the same family that owns the Cudgegong Gallery, also in Gulgong (this has built up a reputation over the past five years or so of being one of the best private country galleries in New South Wales) who are professional and promotionally minded. In addition the shows are curated by local artist and professional curator, Connie Eales.
      Ms Eales is imaginative and the program of exhibitions for 2008 was, and indeed still is interesting and varied and each of them has been well supported by the artists and gallery patrons.
      However, sales of photography has been almost non-existent even though the standard has, on the whole, probably been more consistent than that of the paintings. The prices asked competitive in the local environment and lower than in a Sydney gallery, for example. So why haven't local collectors responded?
     The facile answer is that they are not educated in photography or collecting photographs and anyway, "photography doesn't sell." There is some truth in the former but the second clearly is not so, as on the wider level photographs do sell. As always the situation is more complex that it appears on the surface.
Demographics
      Locally it has a lot to do with demographics. Most of the art bought around here is bought by older people who, it is true, are not photography literate but equally many of them are retired and few of them have a lot of disposable income — one of the reasons lay-bys are quite popular.
     The economy of our area is based on mining, tourism, wine and traditional rural activities such as wool and beef production. The tourism and wine are dependent upon one another and at first glance appear to offer opportunities to sell artworks. And they do to a certain extent, but most people who come here come to taste and buy wine, not art. So the obvious solution is to expand beyond the local horizons.
      That's not as easy as it sounds. Getting representation at a city gallery is very competitive; building an on-line presence equally so; entering out of town competitions has logistical and expense problems. Then there is the sense of being involved in the community that showing at local galleries give, which inspires loyalty while at the same time disincentives people from attempting to expand into other markets.
Print selection
      Nor is it easy making a selection of what to put in a group show. The photograph of Eva (top left) is of a contemporary dancer that I entered in Music for the Eyes and which I think has the implication of music and life running through the image and I thought appropriate. Although I sold a print to a collector who only collects photographs it failed to sell in the exhibition while a print of a high contrast shot of a set of lights by another photographer taken at a music festival sold. It's a strong image but it hasn't much to do with music.
      The other three images (at the left) sold at a one-man show I had a few years ago which were, loosely, landscapes which shows only that people have eclectic tastes and there is no way one can anticipate what will sell and what will not. The only way to handle it is to put in what you judge to be your best work, but more than that work that you like and are proud of.
Education
      Educating gallery visitors to the delights (and, perhaps, financial) rewards of collecting photographs should be part of every gallery program and it is also incumbent upon photographers to participate in gallery walks, talks and lectures. Standing around at an opening with a drink in one's hand and looking arty is not an effective way of ensuring sales.
      As an example of what I mean, a few months ago I met a painter called Peter Lawson who opened an impromptu gallery in Gulgong during the Henry Lawson Festival. I don't like his work but that doesn't detract from his effectiveness. You can read the full story here.     
      But I concluded the article with this paragraph "Part of Peter's success in his nomadic gallery venture is that he's genuinely friendly. He greets every visitor ensuring that the person feels at home, gets a price list and directed to the food and drinks. And he's also prepared to answer endless questions. He's not an artist who retreats to a corner with his cronies and ignores the potential customers. In short, he's someone who has his act together."
      In other words he is a salesman and I believe than all artists who want to be successful have to be prepared to be part salesman as well as a creative. It is not necessary to be a hustler but it is necessary to be pro-active.
Web Site
       I believe that a good web site is essential. That said, you have to have a clear idea what you are trying to achieve with it, and you have to tell people that it exists.
      Textile artist Jan Irvine-Nealie's web site is a good example of what I mean. When we first discussed building the site she had a number of objectives to meet a number of requirements. These were to showcase her work for commissions, to sell new work from the site, and to serve as a source for researchers.
      The result is a large, simple site which we believe looks good, loads quickly and meets her objectives. It was only completed at the beginning of the month but it is already being trawled regularly by search engines and her visitors are averaging over 10 pages per visit indicating that the depth and complexity of the content and its internal cross referencing is paying off.
     She still has to distribute her URL to all of her contacts and to date and so far as I know has only two sites including my art site linked to hers.
      In my view it is working so well I am planning a similar site to show my photography. It is in the early planning stages, but it will be at f0point05.com so check it out from time to time.

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