From Holland Carter, art critic, New York Times: “Somebody, someday will write a social history of 21st century art fairs, which will also be a history of the art of an era. I hope that history will give a sense of how engulfing the phenomenon is and of the Stockholm syndrome-like mentality it has produced: almost everyone says in private how they hate fairs, but everyone shows up at them, smiling anyway, and hangs out, when they could be visiting studios, or going to offbeat spaces, or taking trips, to Kolkata, say, or Bucharest, or Rio, or Cape Town, where all kinds of series in-touch-with-life work is going on.” Read more

Read this delightful article “Slaves of the Internet Unite!” by Tim Kreider.

writes art and archtecture critic Joan Altabee.  “It’s time already.  Granted, art by women was ignored for a very long time.  But that story ended and painters like Helen Frankenthaler have been able to say, ‘Looking at my paintings as if they were painted by a woman is superficial, a side issue.’ . . . Even if a historical corrective were needed, it’s just a bad idea to isolate art by gender. . . The separation only reinforces the divide.  This is why the National Museum of Women in the Arts, established in 1987, has always been a terrible idea.”  Read the entire article

Posting prices on your website is a deterrent for art dealers to play hanky panky — charging their clients higher prices than the ones you agreed upon. Beware of art dealers who have a hissy fit about having your prices posted online.

Although some artists worry that posting prices makes a site look too “commercial” — this train of thought is a leftover attitude from the 1990s. Yawn!

I do not recommend posting prices directly next to artwork. I want people to concentrate on your work — not the price. But a price list on a separate web page is very helpful. It also acts as a filter — eliminating people who are really in the poster market and have an unrealistic sense of how much artwork costs. And it will save you precious time, not having to contend with art dealers who have a glass ceiling regarding prices– and only sell artwork for very meager amounts and expect you to conform.