agora gallery NY

[anne (bxl)]

Does someone heard about that Soho gallery in NY? I have a contact with them but they ask what seems to me unpayable fees to expose. do they do a good job?

[ArbitraryDesign]

I have heard through the "grape vine" that this gallery is not reputable. It is my understanding that their true source of income is primarily artists who are willing to pay outlandish fees in the hopes of showing their work the the "elite" NY art crowd.

I cannot back this up with any evidence, as I have had no dealings with them... but buyer be warned.

Robert Belgrad

[anne (bxl)]

thank you for your information, robert.
it confirms the subjective and personnal feeling I had by e-mail contacts with them.

[ArbitraryDesign]

Originally posted by anne (bxl)
thank you for your information, robert.
it confirms the subjective and personnal feeling I had by e-mail contacts with them.

I was hesitant to post this, as I am not in the habit of slandering people whom I have had no dealings with... nor am I prone to accept gossip as fact.

They may be a perfectly respectable gallery, but I have heard otherwise from several different sources...
And I tend to be wary of any gallery that charges artists up-front to display their works.

Robert

[anne (bxl)]

And I tend to be wary of any gallery that charges artists up-front to display their works.

Robert [/B][/QUOTE]

it's a good opportunity to remind every artist to act very carrefully in this matter without slandering a specific gallery!

[Araich]

I was immediately impressed by the frankness of your comments Robert - but also wondered at the impact as this page sits quietly away in the archive.
I rarely check myself, but I have noticed very old comments of mine still spidered by Google years later.

My two cents: I would not look at a gallery who charges upfront fees unless it remains the final option. Or you are very well established and can run your own show in that location.

PS. Edit would allow the gallery's name to be replaced with 'this'.

[ArbitraryDesign]

Originally posted by Araich
I was immediately impressed by the frankness of your comments Robert - but also wondered at the impact as this page sits quietly away in the archive.

PS. Edit would allow the gallery's name to be replaced with 'this'.

Good point.
I too am not in the habit of censoring myself (perhaps I should be)... but there is no reason to invite litigation..lol

Edited. Thanks.

Robert

[Araich]

It would seem that many things in the artworld are not what they seem.

Books published by payment - not public demand, sell out shows - bought by the gallery, high auction prices - paid by the owner, long reviews - of work in the editors collection, bad reviews - by enemies, no reviews - of important shows, funding to the emerging - oblivion to the mid-career - and success to the deceased!

It's the world in which we live. You gotta love it.

Or take up law.

[anne (bxl)]

do you think we have to censor ourself on such a friendly and helpfull site?
are we still artist if we have to shut our mouth on what's wrong on the art market primarely (our micorcosm) and in the world afterwards?

[redrajah]

much like sculpture our words may outlive us, don't need to censor them, do need to be aware of their impact.

[ArbitraryDesign]

Originally posted by Araich


Or take up law.

What a revolting notion...
I'd sooner pull my toe nails out with pliers!

Robert

[JHoughton]

Gotta love it! Its a buisness pure and simple, some are gonna be fair and honest while others will be down right rude and dishonest. I personally have found it hard as a Sculptor/Artist to know what gallerys to search out and contact and which ones to steer clear of. So far it has been word of mouth and reputation. I think it would be great if their was some kind of Consumer Reports like listing on galleries from state to state. Just my $.02

[Araich]

Originally posted by JHoughton
I think it would be great if their was some kind of Consumer Reports like listing on galleries from state to state. Unfortunately they would always be out of date, with the circumstances of Art World businesses changing on a dime.

We could however pass around some thoughts on galleries within out personal experience. This is of course, if we can fight back the competitive urge to stay quiet.

[fused]

In the small world getting smaller category...

I encountered this photographer's images (http://stage.co.il/s/574170) which I like a lot on this site (http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist/details.php?id=1708) and scrolling down the page saw he has some exhibitions in 2006. One of the galleries listed is the Agora Gallery (http://www.agora-gallery.com/) which I googled, discovering it has locations in SOHO and Chelsea and it led me back here.

Back on this old subject, when you do business with a gallery that is out of state (or even farther) it's nice if you know someone in the vicinity who can check up on your work occassionally while it's there. A local artist tells of doing a show in Chicago where a friend calls him and says, "Congratulations, I went by the gallery today and saw several red dots on your work," but when he called the gallery was told, "No sales yet, but we have several collectors interested in pieces."

[sculptor]

"If you're serious about selling your art"
was the response I received to my comment about their fees
I responded-
"I know I'm serious about selling my art, but seriously doubt that you are-I have the perspective that, you are serious about selling to me, and not for nor with me."

Paying up-front for a showing is silly and foolish....(a fool and his money...)
If the gallery works on commission, they make money with the artist and get zip if they drop the ball-so they essentially become a partner in the profits with the artist.
Most gallery owners know what they can sell and will accept works based on either that criterion, or works that will draw people in the door---One of my current galleries sells my smaller (cheaper) works, but likes to place large ones in the window to draw in potential customers. (if they were to sell one of the large ones, I'd assume the check was a typo and ring them up to doublecheck the check)

The Agora has been spamming me from varied addresses for the past 5 years.
my advice
Don't go there.

[PAULHT]

I nearly went there in Feb!

[MountainSong]

Among canvas artists Agora gallery is considered a vanity gallery. You pay to have your work shown, then it gets stored in a backroom somewhere out of site for the rest of it’s time. Usually they peruse artists websites to find potential customers and then send them invites to join them for a ‘reasonable fee’. The general feeling among canvas artists is ‘run don’t walk away’.
Interestingly enough they regularly find artists from around the world desperate enough to want to be shown in N.Y. that they've not only kept thier doors opened but increased their show fees.

[Agora]

Dear Forum Members,

I was surprised to see this thread from 2003 resurface and continued in 2006 but as it has I would like to state some facts about Agora Gallery.

1 - Agora Gallery has been in business since 1984

2 - Agora Gallery openly presents all the services that we provide. Visit Gallery Representation (http://www.agora-gallery.com/artistinfo/GalleryRepresentation.aspx) and Gallery Info (http://www.agora-gallery.com/GalleryInfo/NYCGalleries.aspx)

3 - Agora Gallery has a real physical location at one of the best locations in the Chelsea art district - http://www.agora-gallery.com/Exhibitions/ReceptionPhotosMain.aspx

4 - Agora Gallery has appeared in many publications, including the Wall Street Journal In The News (http://www.agora-gallery.com/GalleryInfo/InTheNews.aspx )

5 - Agora Gallery has a team of dedicated, hard working employees who are making every possible effort to publicize the exhibitions and bring our artists to the media attention.



Agora Gallery provides a service to artists who are not well established in the New York art market through annual representation. The service includes an exhibition, advertising and listings, determine prices once representation begins, personalized PR efforts and more. If you are not an established artist and do not have a collector base, particularly in the Metropolitan area, Agora Gallery provides print advertising and website promotion in order to provide you with the necessary exposure. A service, which an individual artist would find difficult, if not impossible to obtain without a gallery.

I am aware that there are "vanity galleries" who do not provide an honest service Agora Gallery is not one of them. I would be more than happy to answer any questions, comments, or criticisms directly: Joyce(at)agora-gallery(dot)com.


Best Regards,

Joyce Asper
Gallery Representative
Agora Gallery
www.agora-gallery.com

[ArbitraryDesign]

Dear Forum Members,

I was surprised to see this thread from 2003 resurface and continued in 2006 but as it has I would like to state some facts about Agora Gallery.

So you registered an account, and made a single post... to refute a 3 year old thread that hasn't seen the light of day in over 6 months?
Interesting.

[Agora]

Yes Robert, because unfortunately on the internet these old complaints keep surfacing and people read posts from 2003 and take them as fact.

Proof to point this thread started in 2003 was continued in 2006 as if no time has passed. Here, 5 months later I hear from one of the original posters who heard from the grapevine.

I feel it is important that people hear from us and can approach us directly if they have any questions.

“Truth is generally the best vindication against slander” Abraham Lincoln

[MountainSong]

Would you mind then me directly asking you what the current going rate for have one’s work shown with Agora is?

Grapevine has it current 2006 fees are at $50,000. We realize of course that you charge differently based on whether one merely has their work in the gallery vs whether the gallery promotes a one man show for the artist or not, so for simplicity’s sake perhaps you can just give us the fee cost for being represented in the gallery but without a show or additional promotional cost –

-just the most basic package for an artist wanting representation in the New York market with Agora please.

[ArbitraryDesign]

Yes Robert, because unfortunately on the internet these old complaints keep surfacing and people read posts from 2003 and take them as fact.

Proof to point this thread started in 2003 was continued in 2006 as if no time has passed. Here, 5 months later I hear from one of the original posters who heard from the grapevine.

I feel it is important that people hear from us and can approach us directly if they have any questions.

“Truth is generally the best vindication against slander” Abraham Lincoln
There is no "grapevine" involved.
When one is subscribed to a thread, one is notified by e-mail when there is a new post in that thread.
It was dead and buried until you revived it, the last post having been made back in June.

[mark pilato]

lets get ready to rumble..
Its cool that Joyce Asper is on this link to stick up for her gallery, I respect that. Sometimes all it takes is a bad show for a participant to bad mouth a gallery no mater what the reason. Its always a risk to have a show and if work doesn't sell, well sometimes its the work,or the market or about 100 other things. I know if i were to have a show that I was paying for i would visit said gallery go to a few shows and I would call past artist to see how they felt, and most of all i would prepare myself for not selling any-work. I would make sure that i filled the gallery with people that have bought work from me in the past, and I would send invitations to everyone i felt may help me in my future. Any help that the gallery gives is all gravy. I have had a lot of shows in my life some sell outs some the opposite, but they all helped get me were I am today, I am an artist and I am having a kicking time with life's ups and downs.
Im in the city next week and i am going to check out Agora, see what hanging on its walls, who knows maybe I will be inspired.

all the best,
Mark
http://www.pilatostudios.com

[GlennT]

What amazes me about this gallery and thread is that a gallery is run on the basis of charging an artist to show their work. What does that say about the standards of the gallery, or the confidence that they have in making sales, if they are charging artists a fee to show the work?

The gallery already will be charging a large commission to pay for all of the goodies they offer such as location, clientele, advertising, etc. If they did such a good job with all of the above, they would be solvent enough to not need to make it financially difficult for the most vulnerable artists, ie those who are desperate enough to pay for exposure. And also their reputation would perhaps be based on good taste selectivity rather than selling display space to anyone willing to pay.

GlennT

[Merlion]

I notice members have expressed unhappiness with Agora Gallery since 2003. But apparently this gallery has been more active recently resulting in more complaints over here, as well as two other online artists' forums. Perhaps this has to do with the trend of artists going increasingly for direct online sale expressed in the other thread (http://www.sculpture.net/community/showthread.php?t=4112).

[Agora]

Most members here seem to be very well acquainted with the New York art scene. Sales for an artist’s work are not guaranteed, no matter where they show. It is extremely difficult to gain recognition, especially in today’s over-crowded art world, where standing out from the crowd is especially challenging. Agora Gallery provides artists with a chance to show their work to the most sophisticated art viewers in nexus of the New York, and the American art scene. Although great effort is made to publicize, promote, and advertise our artists, it is not guaranteed that their work will catch the heart of the public. It does take one artist who has not sold as they had wished, to spread slanderous gossip about the gallery where they have shown, putting the fault on their exhibition space rather than focusing on how to improve their work. Once again, there is no guarantee that an artist’s body of work will catch the heart of the masses.

Artists who do not have exposure have a very small chance of getting recognized. Our gallery is a service for upcoming artists, who make an investment in their own future. Like all investments, there is always a chance for failure. Because all fees and services are laid out upfront, the artist chooses whether it is worth the risk. If an artist has made the choice to show at agora Gallery, and is thus serious about his work and believes in its value, then they should receive the respect and courtesy due to them.

So Mark, and all others who have expressed their thoughts about our gallery, I invite you to attend one of our upcoming exhibition openings or to stop by to view an exhibition during regular gallery hours. I encourage you to speak with our staff and ask your questions upfront.


Best Regards,

Joyce

"I am always doing things I can't do, that's how I get to do them."
- Pablo Picasso

[Noirjak]

It appears you have created a different business model from what most, including me, have come to expect from an art gallery. As such, to compare what you do to the traditional model is unfair. If someone has the price of a ticket you'll give them the opportunity to swing for the fences in the big league stadium. If they flop you still make payroll and if they're a hit you're in the chips. Sounds like a good business. Has nothing to do with the art world as I know it but hey, I'm just getting older not smarter.

[ArbitraryDesign]

I encourage you to speak with our staff and ask your questions upfront.

Actually, you were asked a question up front, but you have not yet answered it:

"Would you mind then me directly asking you what the current going rate for have one’s work shown with Agora is?"

[tonofelephant]

Mark,
To quote you - <I would make sure that i filled the gallery with people that have bought work from me in the past, and I would send invitations to everyone i felt may help me in my future. Any help that the gallery gives is all gravy.>

I truely do not understand your logic. If you are going to provide the clients (the potential sales), the artwork, and send out invitations, etc. why would you go to a gallery? In essence you are the gallery. It would be easier to go the next step and open a storefront for a month to 6 weeks and reap the profit, clients, and experience yourself.

In your model - what is the gallery doing to earn their 50%? Providing the eats and the building? That is an awful steep price for eats and a bulding. Isn't the gallery supposed to be promoting you to clients, not you promoting the gallery to clients?

What incentive does the gallery have to move your work with an upfront fee? Their overhead is already covered and the art is on consignment. So the gallery is getting paid to put on a show and the artist gets to pay the bills. All the artist gets to do is smile wanely. Some deal. The gallery has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I sell through galleries and out of my own gallery. In addition, I have been in shows at galleries - one person and group shows. If the gallery putting on the show wanted to put the bite on me upfront - thats fine - their percentage of any sales just went down commiserently (sp). Or the sales percentage could stay the same as long as they guaranteed in writing that they would sell a guarenteed amount of art. If the show did not reach the guarantee the gallery would make up the difference.

Sorry, don't mean to be nasty or hateful. But I firmly believe that a gallery and an artist need to be equally at risk on a show as well as being represented by a gallery. If the gallery is not at risk, there is no incentive to hustle to make sales. Easy as that.

Carl

[mark pilato]

Hi Carl, all's cool,
I also have a gallery space where my wife Alyssum and i sell our work, we are trying to get it zoned so we can sell others works as well. We sold a few this weekend which will keep us creating for a few months anyway. But as you know NYC is a different story. Say I decided to rent a space or pay for a show in the city, I would make sure to invite all the people that might help me, "in the city", people who would not be able to come to my catskill studio. I would send press releases out and i would also make sure the gallery was also sending them out as well. I would try all possibilities that could help me in my future. I would invite people who collect my work in the city, who in turn would invite their friends who live in the city, people who would never take the drive upstate to see me. I would also try to set up meetings in the space with clients that I have been in contact with for bigger jobs plus i would invite galleries in the area to see my work. A one month commitment is much better then a one year contract with a gallery that may not be right for you. As you know a slide of your work is nothing like the real thing, so if you can convince galleries directors to come and see the show wile its up this of course will give you an upper hand. Okay if I were to argue on the other side - I would have to say, if you are a artist who has not been sculpting for a long time, if you do not have a large body of work, if you also do not have the experience of having a gallery show, you could be taking a big risk, a huge risk. Its better to work first close to home, get some experience first, build a strong pro-folio of work. Also if the said gallery is 50,000 cash, well, thats a lot of rice, but if the said gallery is closer to 10, then I could see it, and if the said gallery did not take a %, then I could see it much better. But if the said gallery charged more and took a %, well, Its not for me, out of my league. 50,000 is also a lot of bronze, a lot of sculptures, a lot of heat, a lot of camping trips with few sailing trips mixed in.

All the best,
Mark

[Agora Gallery]

Greetings!

Two more points that I want to address:

1. "Would you mind then me directly asking you what the current going rate for have one’s work shown with Agora is?"
Basic gallery representation which includes magazine listings, display advertisements, press releases, post cards, targeted client presentations, personalized PR efforts, museum submissions, online announcements, participation in a collective exhibition with an opening reception and online representation on the two gallery web sites is $2950

2. What incentive does the gallery have to move your work with an upfront fee?

Agora Gallery was established in 1984
http://www.agora-gallery.com/welcome/

22 years is not something attained by just "providing the eats and the building".
22 years of knowledge and experience in the art world is an achievement we take pride in.

Agora Gallery's success is directly related to the success of our artists.
Our incentive is simple: Successful artist=Successful Agora Gallery.

Agora Gallery was founded on the principle that once true talent is recognized it should be nurtured and given the opportunity to flourish in a structured, supportive and professional environment. We have a team of dedicated, hard working employees who are doing just that.


If anyone has any other questions or constructive comments let me know. I truly appreciate your input.

Joyce

[philpraxis]

Greetings!
...
Agora Gallery's success is directly related to the success of our artists.
Our incentive is simple: Successful artist=Successful Agora Gallery.

Could you explain this please?
It seems to me that whatever the outcome for the artist be, successfull or not selling a single thing, you still have their money and don't get percentage on the sale?

Even if you get percentage on the sale, how much of your annual income is the percentage on sales?

If it's the majority of your income, okay then, you're an art gallery.

But so far, your business looks more like "exhibition space and services for rent" than an art gallery.

[iamjustanonymou]

For anyone who reads these posts, I know this was posted awhile back but I feel the need to say what I may. I have worked at Agora Gallery and have experienced first hand their preoccupation with the finance of milking artists for all their worth. Artists' work is barely up for 2 weeks, they pay exorbitant fees that buys them nothing but saying they showed in NYC. The gallery barely tries to sell their work, if maybe selling 1 in 100 pieces, barely. It is like a assembly line, art in and out so fast that you can barely tell what's next.

It is not worth the money.