In every society, there are times when producers of certain products experience the price of their products being determined by market forces beyond their control. For example, it is common for the producer of sachet water (popularly called ‘pure-water’) to make enormous sales when the weather is hot or during water scarcity, and on the other hand, experienced very low sales during raining seasons or when tap-water is running constant. This means that, prevailing circumstances like weather, season or alternatives of a particular product can act terribly against the price of a given commodity in the market. In such situations, the producer can not, at all times, make the target gain expected, neither can it be said that he/she will record losses beyond moving to the next level. These are similar situations that practicing artists who are producers of art (paintings, sculptures, graphic art, ceramics etc) in the developing world normally find themselves.
In the art world, the market is not always favoring the producers as artists (who are the chief producers of art) are very often compelled to sell art at circumstances/periods that will not fetch them much gains in the business. For instances, most artists who spent good time in the studio producing powerful art pieces with charming designs do not always have time to create market for their works. They have to go through galleries to sell their works as well as promote them. The gallery owners, who in most cases operate for gainful motives, are financially conscious of what they stand to get. In this way, the percentage agreement is reached between the artist and the gallery manager. Series of interactions with artists revealed that, galleries usually collect between 20-40% of every art work sold. Sometimes, artists have to register with galleries with a certain fee to enable them drop works for sale after which a certain percentage will be deducted from each of the work sold.
When eventually the artist is bold enough to seek audience by staging an exhibition in a popular gallery where his/her creative talent would be showcased, it some times become an avenue for the gallery to indirectly feed on the creative property of the poor artist. The artist has to pay for the venue, before other costs follow. Given this challenge, the artist will sometimes enter into an agreement that at the end of such shows (exhibitions) never have enough to pay his bills. This force the artist to living a life of working hard to enrich others who claimed to be his promoters.
Sometimes, the galleries determine the kind of art works that artists produce. If the artist brings anything more or less than what the gallery owner prescribed then he/she stands the chance of loosing a space in the gallery. This keeps the artist in a dilemma of either producing works according to his/her creative instincts or accepting to be tele-guided by the demands of his/her promoters.
Since there is always exceptions in every thing, there are artists who do not feel such pains in their practice or probably have cross this toddling stage to a level that they get commensurate gains to what they produce. These are artists who have made name in the art circle and constantly go on trips abroad to sell their art works at places where conducive atmosphere have been established for the artists to gain from their sweats. Some times such artists have connections with collectors outside Nigeria who pay well , hence they really get the true value/worth of their art works. In most cases, it is younger artists that always find it tough in the art market. After buying materials and working for days to produce works in their studios, they record very limited chances of making it beyond the toddling stage. Until Nigeria restructure the art sector, reinforces Society of Nigerian Arts (SNA) and formed an art regulatory body, the future of many younger artists will remain bleak and insecure.
*** Art in Disguise ***
