PRICE MANAGEMENT TRAJECTORY IS HOW WE CALL IT AT THE ALVAREZ GALLERY
The Boom and Bust of an Artist’s Fast-Flying Trajectory!
DEAR GALLERY ARTIST, INDUSTRY PARTNERS, AND COLLECTORS,
The goal of this email is to introduce you to the career of an artist whose work prices have plummeted to 10% on the dollar from less than a decade ago as seen in a recent auction I attended which included the artist’s work.
I recently witnessed several of David Datuna’s paintings at Blackrock Galleries Auction. Below you will see the original prices they sold for, and the prices finally realized.
Having been pitched to work with Datuna through other galleries at art fairs we participated in and remembering how easy it would be to fall into that trap (as his work was the hottest item in the art fair block and art galleries), I am glad I refused to join the band wagon. Besides the work not being our fit and failing our proprietary Three-tier Artist Selecting Model, I was taken aback at how many galleries were selling his work, and to just about anyone: this makes it impossible to maintain prices steady. It is hard as it is but, in such cases, it is more than just the artist setting the prices. Price management needs more than that. I felt quite sad for the artist on that night, seeing those realized prices.
David Datuna
“Marilyn”
(Original $134,989)
What this means is that his sale prices must start from the latest prices realized at auction, which is 10% on the dollar from what they sold at a few years ago. It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for his galleries and eventually himself to sell his work at much higher prices to professional collectors or anyone who is smart enough to do a Google search before buying. With luck, it could take years for prices to ever go back to its hay day prices. What this also means is that he will not be of interest to museums anymore. This is also very sad because as artists grow older, they want to be recognized in museums and not be on a deathbed career-wise.
David Datuna
“Louis Vuitton – View Points…”
(Original $100,000)
Sadly, these artists get excited at the prospect of making money and enjoying quick fame, but they fail to find the right team, the one that has not only a track record of projecting ahead but also the right strategies for managing the artist’s work within the market.
Unfortunately, very few galleries work as such, although they tell you they do. His galleries and studio may say otherwise but the facts are just the opposite in most cases, and the auction results have proved it. Also in question here is the owners. Galleries need to maintain strong relationship with their collectors to avoid such destruction of value situations.
It is for this reason that Alvarez Gallery employs, among other models:
- Its own proprietary pricing model;
- We focus on positioning value in the hands of the right collectors, and
- At whatever cost, we maintain a strong and growing relationship with collectors and make sure that such relationships extend to the artists we represent as well.
What happened to Datuna’s prices is poor (early-on) leadership regarding the understanding of short- and long-term forces. I blame his advisors (if he had any), galleries for jumping on the wagon simply because he was a hot item and selling his work as if it was “merchandise” without any integrity or regard to the work itself or who was buying it.
Artists need not mistake sales-driven galleries over career-focused galleries. They need galleries with a certain set of values and that invest in the artist’s career and therefore stay true to a long-term career development discipline of at least a decade.
David Datuna
“Chaotic Past: Flying Squadron”
(Original $48,000)
Very few galleries think five to ten years ahead. We do, and that’s why we consider ourselves career developers first. That’s why we don’t use terminology such as sales in our gallery, but rather “positioning value in the hands of the right collectors,” and why our artists have entered the most important museum art shows (at their level) and are entering influential museums and world renown collectors even as far as Munich.
An artist who understands that is our best partner, and so are their collectors, as we are not only watching out for the artist’s future but also for the future of those that partner with us: the right collectors.
David Datuna
“Stars”
(Original Price $100,000)
Distributing art through art galleries as if the work were shoes or just retail merchandise is one of the biggest problems artists are faced with, as it also becomes difficult for them to reject the idea of just working with many galleries. They somehow correlate that with success and fail to think long term.
At the Alvarez Gallery, you can be reassured that:
- We work hard to create the right strategies for your work from the get-go;
- We position your work in the right hands;
- We hold strong relationships with the collectors we work with;
- We have models and protocols in place to protect artist prices, both as an Alvarez Gallery Artist and in the best interest of our collectors.
The losers here are Datuna’s collectors who are now burned, and the Galleries themselves. Lost, even more sadly, is an artist’s lifelong career.
About the artist
David Datuna (1974 – 2022) / Georgian-American conceptual artist.
Known for his provocative multi-media work, Datuna set the standard for socially conscious-centric art with his keen sense of conceptual art and an occupational love for playful juxtapositions. His weblike network of optical lenses suspended over large-scale collaged and painted images has captivated viewers throughout his career. Using the language of mixed media, Datuna encapsulated the pulse of political, cultural, and commercial sensitivities.
In February 2014, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery featured Datuna’s work, where a record-breaking 27,000 visitors waited for over two hours to view the exhibition. His contribution to contemporary art continues to have a lasting imprint on the art community.
David Datuna exhibits widely in the US, Europe, and Asia, and is well represented in important private collections worldwide. His philanthropic and cross-cultural engagements lend cause for celebration for what he achieved and contributed to American contemporary art.
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