What Your Labels Tell About You?

While in vacations in Kent (South of England) with my family, we went to a restaurant in the city of Canterbury. They had a couple of paintings on display: watercolours and oil paintings.

I was distracted from the art by the poor look of the labels. They were handwritten, yellowish (grease from the restaurant’s kitchen), tattered and with bent corners. What did that tell me? It yelled: these paintings have been here forever and nobody wanted to buy them.

Small details like that are essential and make or break a sale. Your potential customer may not even realize that the labels put them off, but they will.

Many artists really care about their artwork until it is framed and just imagine (or hope) that, after this final touch, it will sell itself. The truth is that every little detail count and looking professional does not have to cost you a lot.

A few points to remember:

• Get access to a computer and type your labels. They will be more legible and project a good impression.

• Print your labels on heavy paper or Bristol cards. This way, the label will be stiff and you will avoid bent corners.

• If you anticipate that the works may be exhibited for some time (semi-permanent display in a restaurant for instance), print duplicates of your labels and make sure you change the labels on a regular basis, so that they always look clean and in perfect condition.

Related articles

Two excellent articles on how to label your art by Alyson Stanfield from ArtBizBlog.com:

• How to attach labels to the wall
• Labels for your art installation

art installations art exhibitions art marketing exhibit labels Alyson Stanfield ArtBizBlog