The art of selling the “same art” on multiple products

When I visit a museum I start my tour at the museum shop. Thanks to that visit, I can quite accurately estimate what I’ll get to see when I enter the exhibition halls. One of my other observations is that the supply of goods in those shops has increased tremendously.

Jenny Stevens, in her article published at theguardian(.)com on 25 June 2018, writes: “You could, if you were fanatical about such things, live your entire life kitted out in your favourite artists. You could wake up and remove your Louise Bourgeois eye mask, take a swig from your Damien Hirst coffee cup, then you check your Ai Weiwei-covered phone before pulling on your Van Gogh leggings.” She is interested in finding answers to some questions: what’s behind the explosion in art merchandise – and who’s really making the money?

What interests me though is, what a not-so-famous artist can learn from this development. For example: As an artist, why not open your own “exhibition shop” during your exhibition. Maybe not for all of the pieces shown but at least for some of them you could easily get t-shirts, cups, book-dividers etc. produced for you. Even if the visitors don’t buy the original work of art, I assume that you would be selling enough merchandise to make up for it.

If you are also interested in the answers Jenny Stevens finds… it is a nice article to read at:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/jun/25/van-gogh-leggings-tracey-teacups-how-art-tat-broke-out-of-the-gift-shop-merchandise

Music of the blog: The Script – Superheroes