Inconsistent pricing of artworks wreaks havoc

They would ask for the artists’ prices and sum them up with the costs of their undisputed professional extras they provided when presenting the work and the taxes.
If the artists’ asking prices were too low, they would admonish the practitioners and raise them. If the prices were inflated beyond a certain mark they would normally sell for their highest priced established artist, they would also advise taking into consideration the artists’ pedigree.
They performed in a typical scenario when a gallery is in constant consultation with the artist on pricing of artworks. But this is not going to be the situation anymore since they have dissolved.
Even when left to galleries to take control of the pricing of the artworks they show, the delicate process of deciding how much to charge for an artwork is a struggle. The tug-of-war between the need to have one’s work being recognised for its worth and the need to make it accessible to collectors is a difficult balance to strike. But do the artists themselves know how much their art is worth?
In a number of recently held art exhibitions in the country inconsistencies at pricing of artworks have wreaked havoc to unprecedented levels. At the “Live ‘N’ Direct” group exhibition organised by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare, artists’ tagged prices were grossly inflated.
It came as no surprise that only a single art piece sold in the whole double-storey show despite other factors. Across town at Gallery Delta Foundation for Art and the Humanities where the owners have a major saying regarding the pricing of the exhibited work, the prices are way too low to the sustenance of the artists and the gallery itself.
No wonder why the gallery has been in continuous financial distress besides other compounding factors. At least they make some considerable sales that if the artworks were correctly priced, they would stop moving around with a begging basket.
At other art centres where there have been open group art exhibitions like at Domboramwari Art Village and Dzimbanhete Arts Interactive (DAI), the prices were again too low. It’s an incorrect assumption that under-pricing works of art will yield a significant number of sales and attract future business transactions.
This unfortunate trend has unforgiving consequences especially to artists’ who will forever find it difficult to price their work correctly and put themselves in their rightful positions especially when confronted with opportunities from beyond our borders. Selling artworks for grocery prices undermine the artists and is unsustainable.
It seems as if the use of foreign currencies in the country has beleaguered artists who most of them are already in merciful situations. Before the various change of events in the last decade, the inconsistencies in the pricing of artworks we are witnessing today never used to be of concern.
Being clear and consistent when pricing your art gives you credibility as an artist. A lot of market research needs to be carried out to know for roughly how much work of similar genre, size, expertise and materials is currently being sold. As one visits galleries and alternative spaces, one has to note the prices for work that seems similar to his or hers.
One has to research the education level whether self- taught or informally trained, reputation, and exhibition history of the artists to make sure he or she is comparing the artist’s work with people of similar stature and education.
l Stephen Garan’anga is an international fine art practitioner, independent art projects co-ordinator, chairperson of African-Colours Artists, executive member Batapata Inter-national Artists’ Workshop, critical visual arts writer amongst other things; email: [email protected]