Has anyone ever dealt with the Agora Gallery in New York? I've recently been offered representation by this gallery, but they charge a fee of several thousand dollars for their services in addition to a 30% commission on all works sold. Is this a standard gallery/artist relationship, or are these the practices of a vanity gallery?
Were you offered representation personally or as part of a mass invitation? Thirty % commission is fairly standard. The commission is the gallery's investment in the risk relationship. You both are at risk and are seeking a return on investment. You have an investment in the actual works, the gallery is investing space and traffic as well as overhead.
Does the high fee that is in addition to the commission come with personal representation and aggressive marketing by the gallery for you? What do you get for the investment?
I never heard of a vanity gallery, but after reading what your agreement might entail I can see why it might be called a vanity gallery. You pay for your vanity and desire to become famous.
Agora is most definitely a vanity gallery. I and several of my artist friends have been contacted by this outfit over the past couple of years, some of us multiple times. One of them, a sculptor, decided to go with it. It cost him $10,000 (the "hanging fee") just for the privilege of exhibiting, plus the cost of shipping his pieces to NYC. They managed to damage a couple of his pieces, and of course they are not responsible for damage or theft. They do have an opening reception for new artists, but beyond that I don't know how aggressively they market any particular artist.
Steven, I was offered a personal invitation after sending them a sample image submission. The high fee is supposed to buy you several months of intensive marketing and promotion before the exhibition. But, then again, this is only what the gallery says. What they actually do may be a totally different story.
Gail, your reply is exactly the type of response I was hoping to get...someone with first-hand experience. I'm going to contact a few more artists who have exhibited at Agora, but I believe I can pretty much close the book on this "opportunity."
You're much better using that much money to rent out a local gallery to you, & invite all the the people in your area who might have an interest in your work. In fact, you could so it for a third of the cost.
F.M., I started a thread last year about Agora, and I believe there has been one more started since then as well. There were some responses from both sides of the aisle, you may want to search through the forums. Been contacted a couple of times, but I've never done anything with them.
Posted by F.M. Kearney on May 26, 2010 at 11:56 AM
Discussion
6 repliesDoes the high fee that is in addition to the commission come with personal representation and aggressive marketing by the gallery for you? What do you get for the investment?
I never heard of a vanity gallery, but after reading what your agreement might entail I can see why it might be called a vanity gallery. You pay for your vanity and desire to become famous.
My advice: stay away from Agora.
Steven, I was offered a personal invitation after sending them a sample image submission. The high fee is supposed to buy you several months of intensive marketing and promotion before the exhibition. But, then again, this is only what the gallery says. What they actually do may be a totally different story.
Gail, your reply is exactly the type of response I was hoping to get...someone with first-hand experience. I'm going to contact a few more artists who have exhibited at Agora, but I believe I can pretty much close the book on this "opportunity."
Thanks again to all!
You're much better using that much money to rent out a local gallery to you, & invite all the the people in your area who might have an interest in your work. In fact, you could so it for a third of the cost.