Or, “Why We Always Say Our Shop Isn’t Really A Gallery.”
Selling art we love is hard. When asked about this or that in the store, Andrew doesn’t hesitate to say “it’s not for sale” and I jump in with “of course it is! Everything has a price.” Things can get weird after that. What we’re asking has nothing to do with actual market value. There isn’t an established market for most of the art on our walls.
Here’s an excerpt from an email I sent this morning, following an inquiry about a painting in our shop:
Forgive for the delay in getting back to you. And sorry for all the hemming and hawing on prices. Most of the work in our shop is there because we like it enough to have collected it for ourselves, which makes it difficult to price without coming across as a couple of opportunistic kookoopants. We have to price according to the “wouldn’t regret losing it if” system.
So please – don’t get upset or look at me like I’m nuts when I tell you that the Gold Leaf Chick can be yours for upwards of $600. I need that much to part with it because it’d be impossible to replace. I love it more than $599.
Below – the painting in question. Probably going to be here for a while.
