The Journal · 1 November 2026
An exhibition is meant to sell, not to party
By Marques Hardin, artist manager · Paris & Rome
An exhibition costs real money, from stretching and framing to hanging the work and the drinks at the opening, so it has to sell. The party is one evening. The sales come from the people you invite before the show, the questions you write down while it is on, and the follow-up in the days after.
Why I do not do art fairs
I personally do not do art fairs, and it has nothing to do with the fairs being bad. In 2023 I took part in one, and it was a very good fair. The problem was the stress that comes with the investment. You put a lot of money into it, then you cross your fingers and hope people buy enough for you to get that money back, and often that does not happen.
Galleries feel the same pressure. In a 2025 survey of 56 galleries, 83% said the cost of taking part was their biggest problem at fairs, and 77% named not knowing whether they would sell as a major problem (First Thursday, via ARTnews).
For an artist, I think a fair is the last place to try to sell your work. The people in the booths are not there to listen to you, because they are busy selling. That focus is worth copying, though, the next time you hang your own show.
Your own show has to pay for itself
An exhibition of your own is not cheap either. Stretching the canvases, framing, hanging the work, and buying the wine, the juice and the snacks all cost money. You only get that money back by selling work, and a great party will not do it for you. So walk into your opening with the same mindset as the dealer at the fair.
Your sales plan fits on one page
- Before the show, write down twenty people who could buy, and invite each of them yourself.
- A week ahead, send the price list to the people who are really interested.
- Choose one price for each work, the same as everywhere else, and decide now which works you would hold for a serious buyer.
- While the show is on, write down every question the same day, with a name and a way to reach the person.
- Within two days of each question, follow up with a photo, the price and one clear next step.
This matters more than it sounds. When First Thursday surveyed 56 galleries, 83% still noted questions at art fairs with pen and paper, and only 31% put them into a system right away (First Thursday, via ARTnews). A lot of good leads get lost in someone's pocket.
Your labels, price list and documents should come out of your records in minutes, so your week goes to people and not to paperwork.
The figures treat every event as a sales event
- Art fairs accounted for 35% of dealer turnover in 2025, their highest share since 2022 (Art Basel and UBS, 2026).
- Dealers sold to an average of 57 unique buyers in 2025, the lowest figure since 2021; 49% of those buyers were new to the business, rising to 60% among the smallest dealers (Art Basel and UBS).
- For dealers turning over less than $250,000, local buyers represented 71% of private collector sales (Art Basel and UBS).
- Participation is expensive: 46% of galleries in one survey spent more than £30,000 on a single fair, 83% named participation costs as their greatest challenge, and 77% named sales uncertainty (First Thursday, via ARTnews).
Why I stopped exhibiting at art fairs
I took part in a fair in 2023, and it was a well-run, genuinely good fair. I have not done one since, because of what the model asks of the exhibitor: a large outlay committed months in advance, followed by several days of hoping that enough collectors buy to recover it, which in my experience often does not happen. A fair is also, in my view, the last place an artist should go to sell, because the professionals on the floor are there to sell their own programmes rather than to listen to someone new. The useful lesson is their discipline, and it applies directly to the exhibitions that artists, managers and galleries organise themselves.
Calculate the break-even before the invitations go out
An exhibition carries costs that are easy to underestimate because they arrive separately: stretching, framing, transport, installation, printing, and the drinks and food served at the opening. Add them together, divide the total by the artist's net on a typical work after commission, and the result is the number of works that must sell simply to recover the investment. That figure, rather than the attendance at the opening, should become the first line of the exhibition's written target.
With few buyers, many of them new and many of them local, every exhibition has to be organised to find, record and convert them. An opening that leaves no usable list behind is, in commercial terms, an expensive reception.
A sales strategy for a single exhibition
- Set a written target for the number of works to be sold and the number of new collectors to be met.
- Assemble the list from every previous buyer of the artist, every enquiry of the past year and every collector of comparable work, and send each of them a personal invitation and the price list before the opening.
- Agree one public price per work with the artist, identical to the studio and online price.
- Prepare the documents before the doors open, including the price list, wall labels, the artist's one-sheet, and invoice and certificate templates.
- During the exhibition, record every enquiry on the day it is made, with the work, the name and the agreed next step, and secure reservations with a deposit and a date.
- Follow up every enquiry within 48 hours with what was requested, one image, the price and a single next step.
- Close the exhibition with a short report to the artist on what sold, to how many new collectors, and which enquiries remain open.
Where the administrative time should go
Labels, price lists, invoices and certificates should be generated from one record rather than retyped for each show, so that the hours recovered can be spent on calls and visits. That trade, fewer hours of administration for more hours with collectors, is precisely what we built Artelier Business to make possible.
An exhibition is one of the best moments to buy, because the work is right in front of you and the artist or the gallery is in the room to answer your questions.
- Ask for the price list when you arrive. A well-run show always has one.
- Ask if a work can be reserved, for how long, and with what deposit.
- Leave your name with the gallery for the works you like, even if you are not ready yet.
- Ask what happens after the show, including delivery, the invoice and the certificate.
- A red dot means a work is sold, so if yours is gone, ask whether there are similar works in the studio.
Frequently asked questions
Make a list of likely buyers before the show, send them the price list ahead of time, write down every question the same day and follow up within 48 hours.