http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/14/us-art-auction-christie-s-idUSKBN0DU06B20140514

This article may give you a taste of what is selling…

Thanks for your comments. Very helpful.

Sorry centyr but you couldn’t be further from the truth. Love and passion etc. don’t sell. They help of course, but it’s the mysterious ineffable that sells.

Work of love and passion does sell. You are looking at the business of selling in the wrong way. You are wanting to find the magic style that sells itself… this doesn’t exist, develop your own style and find the market/buyers for that style. After almost 3 decades of selling art I’ve never sold abstracts. Also, just because you see lots of abstracts on the web doesn’t neccesarily mean they are selling.

Art by Greg Long . My Blog

I recommend watching this. It is some of the best advice I have ever heard for those working in the arts. Very inspirational and it can help you to set your compass. I think maybe the part (at around the six minute mark) where he talks about taking jobs for the money may be apropos here…or not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikAb-NYkseI&list=PLFDiZBhSLcrcDJNP76fQ-C_9ANc9T_nFP&feature=share

I didn’t comment on the OP because I felt defensive too. Or maybe I felt offended by Dave’s view of abstract art.

But then when birdhs gave his advice, which I thought was excellent by the way, I realized that Dave is just uneducated about abstract art and there is no reason for me to feel offended or defensive at all. It’s not about me, or abstract artists at all. It’s about understanding what’s good and why.

I can actually understand why Dave might see how some abstract art might seem like paint just thrown on a canvas willy nilly – just the same way some abstract artists can’t make the jump to understand conceptual art. The higher the art goes, the harder it might be to be open to it, especially once it surpasses aesthetics and gets into the realm of concept.

But we don’t have to go that far. For Dave, maybe he simply wants to understand what makes certain abstract painting “good.” I actually don’t think he’s so out of line asking who is successful in the field.

In the past? There are just so many artists that have seen so much success, it’s impossible to make a list!

My very first favorite artist was Paul Klee, then Kandinsky. Maybe you can start there? The two of them really started their own movement if you read up on those guys. Read about the Blue Riders (Der Blaue Reiter).

I like minimalist abstract too, but I favor more painterly stuff really.

The current painters I like are women, Amy Sillman and Dana Shutz. They are both extremely successful. I think they are good because of the way they paint. And this is hard to explain to someone with your view, but if you start looking at the history of abstract art and the things that were tried during the times that they were, you might get some context for how far its come.

It’s kind of like a dialog. A long dialog. And each decade of artists stands on the shoulders of what came before. It’s not just paint thrown on the canvas. It’s an exploration of trying something new and some people touch upon it and some people don’t quite “explore,” but express. Not that there is anything wrong with that. That is what abstract expressionism is. It’s expressing. It’s freedom, but you might think you’re seeing a lot of “bad” abstract art because you’re seeing a lot of repeats and maybe derivative work. You just need to look at a LOT more abstract art is all.

Anyway, that’s my two cents. Wordy, as usual.

It’s like asking what kind of realism sells. Do you mean landscapes? Portraits? Hyper realism? Photo realism? Loose realism like impressionist styles? “Abstract” has many facets and different subjects and approaches within it.

What sells is art that is well executed and has passion and a story behind it. The latter can be the most important part. Or it could be easy to make and cheap to sell, then that’s aiming at a completely different (interior decorating) market. I have acquaintances who sell abstract art that’s just done to a formula of mixing random colours and patterns. They produce a lot, sell it at moderate prices, and do well.

My art is towards the other end of the spectrum, it is considered abstract. It is colour field style abstract of the coast but have a lot of relation to traditional seascapes and the geology of each specific place in each painting (or drawing). My work is very time consuming and in addition to actual painting time involves research, travel, and several preliminary studies for each piece. In the end it’s usually the discussion of the location and geology that interests my buyers as much as the pretty painting. Most people who just like pretty paintings and like my work aren’t quite buying because the intellectual background to the pieces doesn’t interest them, and therefore they see it as perhaps overpriced. People who are interested in me, my work, my subject matter, my academic reasoning behind it all, etc… they become the long term buyers and big spenders. In fact the less mysterious and ineffible I can make the work for people, the more they seem to enjoy the initial impression of mystery. But now they have more levels to enjoy.

I do think perhaps you’re missing how abstract artists work. Not just currently but how or why they moved to abstraction. Few abstract artists started as abstract for the sake of it. Most move, quite slowly, from some form of representational work that changes over time to focus purely on the aspects of the image the artist most wants to convey. This change, which can be minimalising, simplifying, or distorting, results in abstraction.

I remember when I loathed abstract art. Seriously hated it. I didn’t get it, it seemed easy and almost like a con. As my own art matured and I understood more what I wanted to capture, I crept silently towards abstract without even really realising. Going to see more in person, talking to other artists, and reading a lot about the history of modern and contemporary art gave me an appreciation. Appreciation doesn’t mean you have to like it, but at least then you understand it. (I appreciate Warhol, and Picasso, and Rothko. I have no great love for any of them.)

Tina.

Hey Arty, I think you just nailed exactly why the art that sells does so, in whatever genre.

It moves you.

If you can bring together the right customer and the right art you will get a sale. If the art doesn’t click with them, then no sale.