Have you ever thought about what motivates someone to buy art? Or more specifically your art? If so, you’re not alone. It can feel like a wild guess as to why someone bought a piece of art from you. Or sometimes you intuitively understand why someone purchased a piece but not enough to make that process happen again and again. Figuring out your niche can feel impossible.
But you have something in your favor to help tap into understanding why someone buys your work. It’s that you have a lot in common with collectors, even if you’ve never purchased art yourself.
What do you have in common with collectors?
They’re creative people, too.
They, like you, are expressing themselves. In their case, it’s through their home and art collection. They want their space to feel uniquely theirs. They want the work around them to reflect their experiences, their journey, their values. In short, they want their surroundings to be an extension of their best selves.
And art plays a huge role in this.
Your sculpture, photo or painting may tap into their emotional side in a way that’s hard to describe. And as a result, your work may be the perfect kind of art to surround themselves with.
In one case, a collector told my client that her work and all that it spoke to, echoed how she felt with the creation of her home. She had done a years-long, complex renovation that would transform her space into something amazing and beautiful. She was re-doing her home for the same reasons the artist was making her body of work. They shared the same impetus to do the creative work and because of that, the art and the meaning behind it resonated with the collector. The artist and the collector had a lot in common.
A collector isn’t only someone who can afford the work who wants to look cool by purchasing it. Most collectors have an emotional reaction to the work and want it in their homes because of that. Have you seen this when people buy your work? Has a conversation about the work really hit home for someone?
This is the same reason museums exhibit collections—because the collection is indicative of the collector, their life, their thoughts, their time and their ideas. Collections tell a story.
To help figure out who is the kind of person that would love to buy your work, think about what story your work tells. Think about what drives you to make the work you make. Then share the story your work tells with your people so they can tap into it. That story creates connection and shared commonality. And it’s a great place for someone to decide to purchase a piece from.
Let me know in the comments one topic or story your work addresses. It’d be great to hear how your work fits into a narrative that you can share with potential collectors. And it might inspire others to see this in their work, too!