Stories About Art
Stories About Art
What art coaches get wrong when they say "People Buy Stories, Not Art"
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This piece started life as a Twitter thread by Clint. If you’re into that sort of thing, give Clint a follow here on Twitter: @clintavo.
Stories About Art
Art coaches often tell artists that “people buy stories, not art”, which, on the face of it, is just plain ludicrous. Of course art collectors buy art. Just like wine drinkers buy wine. And just like watch collectors buy watches.
So why are art coaches always harping on the "people buy stories" myth and telling artists they need to spend more time sharing their story?
The reason is because it is true that what we believe about the things we purchase, greatly affects our perception of them. We’ve all seen the studies that say that people enjoy wine more when they think it’s expensive. That’s a “story” that changes our actual perception of the wine.
The problem is that most coaches I’ve seen, seem to reduce the “people buy stories” idea to mean something simplistic to the point they are giving artists bad advice and spending time where it doesn’t matter. Let’s add this to our growing list of “Marketing Guru Myths.”
There is a nuance to this idea about stories that most people & coaches miss, here's where they go wrong & how to do it right.
There are 5 stories you tell about your art:
I’m listing these different stories generally in increasing order of importance to art buyers, from least important to most important.
1. YOUR ORIGIN STORY
Most coaches focus on an artist's ORIGIN story - how you got into art, what originally inspired you.. For you, this part of the story might be important, but it's the least important to collectors. It's ok if this story is as simple as "I loved drawing." You don’t need to search for some deeply traumatic or visitation from above that inspired you to start your art journey. If you had such a pivotal turning point, it is fine to tell that story, if you did not, or if it something you’d rather not share, it doesn’t make that much difference to collectors anyway. They mostly have other reasons for buying.
2. YOUR ONGOING PUBLIC STORY
This is the current "story" of your art career in general: Your time in the studio, exhibits, works in process, etc. This story of working on your art is where you typically get the content for your social media posts.
If you want to have an easy little phrase to remember this story remember this:
“You make your artwork, you share the story of your art work”
3. THE CONTEXT YOUR ART IS SHOWN WITHIN
Context "tells" a powerful non-verbal story about where your art is displayed. A piece of art hanging in a studio vs. an art fair vs. a restaurant vs. a gallery vs a museum will all tell powerful non-verbal stories about your art.
The context can be extremely important to your sales.
Some people who buy for prestige reasons may not be interested in art shown at a local fair, for example.
On the other hand, someone who loves feeling they have found an “undiscovered” artist may prefer buy at local fairs or directly in an open studio event.
We looked more deeply into the power of context in last week’s article Masterpiece in the Subway, Trash in the Museum.
4. YOUR STORY WITH EACH FAN
Every interaction you have with a fan is building the “story” between you and the fan. In general, it should be delightful for them. If it isn't, they might get turned off in some way. If you are a joy to deal with, those positive impressions build up and make them more likely to purchase. And visa versa.
I might add a corollary - and I do not suggest you try this - but I could also see how if you were well known and sort of hard to reach or hard to deal with, it could almost be a badge of honor for true fans to have “battled” to acquire a piece directly from you and have the story to go with it. I can see how this might work, but I wouldn’t suggest trying it. I would, especially if I wasn’t already well known and financially secure, try to make every interaction with my fans as pleasant and memorable (in a good way) as possible.
5. THE STORY OF THE INDIVIDUAL ARTWORK
This is is the most important story. Collectors buy pieces that related to THEIR stories. So tell the story of each piece - what inspired it? Where were you? Where is the subject if it's a landscape?
Example: If the work depicts a fountain in Rome and the client just visited Rome, the two stories overlap and your selling chances go up dramatically.
As one art collector with a large collection told us:
"I buy paintings that move me, and remind me of important events in my life. The artist undoubtedly has a story, and it may reinforce my story, but I buy the art that reflects MY story."
Until next time,
Clint Watson
BoldBrush/FASO/Musero Founder & Art Fanatic
PS - For our paid members, we will be soon starting an in-depth series on this topic with much more information than this overview. We encourage you to join the Sovereign Artist Club as a paid member: