Human-Made ArtTop Contributor
Sales shouldn't be adversarial
We all think that some salespeople are aggressive and that it is an adversarial process; used-car salesmen are a typical example of that type of thinking/selling. But when it comes to selling art, it cannot and must not be so, no matter how frustrated you get or how badly you need to make the sale. Selling art should always be like a dance with a new partner. Searching for a rhythm, a synchronization, getting in tune. When that happens, it is magic.
Obviously, this is a metaphor for the sales process, but it is a valid one.
#artsales
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That image of a dance with a new partner is so tender. There's something in it that names what a lot of artists quietly carry: the fear that putting a price on your work, or standing in front of someone and saying "this is what I made," means you have to become someone harder, someone pushier, someone you don't recognize.
It can feel like the act of selling asks you to split yourself in two. The part of you that made the piece in the quiet of the studio, and the part that has to step into a room and let someone else decide what it's worth. That gap can ache.
What you described, that searching for rhythm, for synchronization, is really a longing to stay whole through the process. To not lose the softness that made the work possible in the first place. That longing isn't naive. It's one of the most honest things an artist can hold onto.
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