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I’M A  PRICE-SETTING  PSYCHO

1/31/2020

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September 2018 Newsletter
By Barry  Eigen

Often  when  I  find  myself  among  a  group  of  artists  the  conversation  turns  to  how  we  artists  should  set  prices  for  our  art.  

An  economics  professor  of  mine  described  the  strategy  for  setting  prices  this  way:  Imagine  you  are  selling  bean  bags,  he  said.  Let’s  assume  you’ve  got  a  warehouse  full  of  bean  bags  and  every  morning  you  go  to  the  window,  look  outside  to  see  how  many  people  are  waiting  in  line  to  buy  your  beanbags.  If  the  line  goes  all  the  way  to  the  horizon,  he  said,  you  should  raise  your  prices.  If  on  the  other  hand  no  one  is  standing  in  line,  it's  time  to  lower  your  prices.  It’s  obvious.

An  experienced  Austinite  told  me  if  a  person  picked  up  a  stone  and  threw  it  in  any direction,  he  would  hit  a  musician  or  an  artist.  That’s  how  many  artists  and  musicians there  are  in  Austin.  In  other  words,  a  lot  of  artists  means  there  is  a  great  deal  of competition  for  art  buyers  resulting  in  a  smaller  number  of  art  buyers  standing  in  any  one line.  Too  few  buyers,  he  would  say,  is  a  buyer’s  market  and  a  buyer’s  market  exerts downward  pressure  on  prices.  That’s  been  my  experience  here  in  Austin.  I  moved  to Texas  just  four  years  ago  from  Wisconsin  and  I  am  convinced  a  painting  priced  at  X dollars  here  will  sell  for  two  or  three  times  that  in  New  York,  Chicago,  Santa  Fe  and even  Milwaukee.  

There  are  those  who  argue  sculpture  should  be  priced  based  on  size  while  two dimensional  art  should  be  priced  by  the  square  inch.  One  told  me  the  going  rule  for pricing  a  painting  is  $1.00  per  square  inch.  Another  said  $1.25.  On  a  video,  an established  artist  suggested  $1.75.  Maybe  I’m  wrong  but  I  have  a  good  deal  of  trouble understanding  this  approach.  

In  my  thinking,  neither  size  nor  even  the  amount  of  time  it  takes  to  create  a  piece should be  the  dominant  way  to  determine  price.  Certainly  every  piece  of  art  we  create  is  not like every  other.  In  our  various  opinions,  some  of  our  art  may  be  more  successful  than others. I  argue  we  ought  to  be  able  to  price  the  work  we  really  like  different  from  the  work  we like  less.  I’m  fully  aware  some  folks  don’t  agree.

The  notion  that  the  time  it  takes  to  create  a  piece  should  determine  its  price  was  for  me dismissed  forever  by  an  incident  I  experienced  years  ago.  I  attended  an  art  fair  with  a close  friend,  a  potter  known  for  his  large  copper  mat  raku  wheel-thrown  amphoras  with bottoms  that  came  to  a  graceful  point.  Some  of  his  pieces  were  five  feet  tall  and  for display  were  balanced  delicately  on  a  plexiglas  cylinder.  To  say  his  work  was  stunning  is an  understatement  and  his  prices,  ranging  from  five  hundred  to  seventy-five  hundred dollars,  underscored  it.  

At  the  show  a  collector  came  along,  carefully  studied  one  magnificent  piece  and  asked how  someone  could  throw  a  piece  whose  bottom  came  to  a  point.  “I  throw  it  upside down,”  the  potter  answered.  Then,  considering  the  piece’s  very  substantial  price,  the collector  asked  the  question  we  all sometimes  get:  “How  long  did  it  take  you  to  make that piece?”  My  friend  smiled  and  gave  an  answer  that  said  it  all.  “Thirty  years!”  he  said.  I use  that  answer  often.  You  can  use  it  too.

Setting  prices  is  always  subjective.  The  battle between  pricing  your  work  so  it  will sell and setting  prices  so  your  work  will  be appreciated  is  not  easy.  I  only  offer  the words  of a seventeenth  century  French  playwright.
“Things  only  have  the  value  that  we  give  them.”  - Moliere
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