I have heard other artists say that they are not selling because there is no money and the economy is bad.  It is true that some galleries are closing their doors in the face of the recession, but some galleries are still doing very well.  Some artists continue to sell at decent prices in spite of the economic downturn.  So how do they do it?

First of all they produce great art.  Their art is consistent in quality, and style.  They work every day at their art for love and, of course, some money.

There are a couple of artists who have caught my eye during this recession.

The first is a man by the name of Duane Keiser.  About four years ago the Ebay art boards were all a buzz about his success on Ebay.  Mr. Keiser, an artist in Richmond,VA, began a series he called "A Painting A Day".  Now Mr. Keiser was pretty well known in his geographic area already and had a following.  He began a blog on Blogger where he listed a new work daily with a link to its Ebay auction.  Bidding started at around $95.00 per painting and the bidding would go up to sometimes over $500 or $600 dollars. Sometimes more.

Of course many Ebay artists tried to jump on Mr. Keiser's boat, forming their own Painting A Day or Daily Painter's groups, but none ever really achieved the following of Mr. Keiser.  Why?  because Mr. Keiser already had a following, a mailing list and a large group of interested collectors via his galleries and shows.  Mr. Keiser is still selling on Ebay, but now the bidding on his paintings start at $1.00.  I suspect that he has a reserve because I have not seen any sell for less that $100.00 lately.  Mr. Keiser uses social networking to announce his Ebay auctions and to promote his work.  he works on building his collector base.

Matt Sesow is a Washington, DC artist whose work is strong, stylistically distinctive, and very Art Brut.  Mr. Sesow has also uses social networking to expand his collector base and to interest galleries in his work.  He does not sell  on Ebay although I have seen some of his collectors offering his work there.  Matt Sesow also paints a painting per day.  Frequently his work reflects political issues and politicians.  About once a month he hosts an open studio to exhibit and market his work locally.  He titles each month's work by that month, 31 paintings in July for example.  I also like the fact that Mr. Sesow invites and accepts friends on his FB page rather than having a fan page.  By using friends he makes his offerings seem very personal, and humble.

I think the thing to remember in these trying economic times is that there are always people who buy art.  They may be buying small $100.00 paintings where they used to buy large paintings for thousands, but they are still buying.  There are also those collectors whom this recession is not affecting, and they are looking for good deals to add to their collection.

The key to selling our work in any economy is to build a base.