Finding Your Niche & Your Story

Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] Alex: the way I see the online art world evolving is with niche businesses.

[00:00:05] Alex: People who focus on specific things you mentioned were mostly 2d. That really is our focus. We sell paintings. We've sold prints over the years. We've sold sculpture. Alternative media, all kinds of things. but when it came down to it real realize our specialty was in helping painters, evaluating painters, and being really focused.

[00:00:25] Alex: And so I think that speaks to the whole industry, to the companies that are really focused on those things that they're doing. They're the ones that survive because they can tell their story succinctly they know their specialty and can thrive in that kind of environment. When new people come in with lots of ideas,

[00:00:44] This is Art Is… a podcast for artists, where we brainstorm the future of the art world and the creative industries.

[00:00:52] Alex: my name is Alex Farkas and I'm the founder and gallery director of the Ugallery. I have a long history in art. My mom, was a Potter and then a gallery owner. So I grew up in her space and I went to school at the university of Arizona. I studied art and art history, and while I was there, I became really interested in the entrepreneurship program and the business.

[00:01:18] Alex: They have a really amazing program where over the course of a year, you learn how to write a business plan, how to pitch it, and all the kinds of aspects of what a startup might be like. So while I was in the art program, I saw all these really talented young artists, learning their craft, but then seeing how difficult it was to make the leap from being a student artist, to being a professional artist.

[00:01:42] Alex: I brought that idea back to my teammates at the entrepreneurship program. They love the idea. So we came up with you gallery and our whole thesis was to create a platform where young and emerging artists could have a place to get their springboard into the art world. And then also help collectors connect with this next generation of artists.

[00:02:03] Alex: So we came up with the idea for you gallery. Our professors really encouraged us. They loved the idea. And, over the course of the year, we honed in on this concept of an online platform so we can reach more people. And then, the school started sending us to business plan competitions. So we went to one in Indiana, which was a premier American competition.

[00:02:26] Alex: And they sent us to one in Canada, which was an international. And people love the idea. So we got great feedback and we also happen to win the two competitions and there was seed money. So we used our prize money to launch your gallery when we graduated. it was a serendipitous process. It started out as a school project, but evolved into something very.

[00:02:50] Isotta: could you tell us a little bit about who is part of your gallery now and what your team looks like?

[00:02:57] Alex: Yeah.

[00:02:57] Alex: absolutely. So that was all the way back in 2006 that we launched the company. And that was a very different time. Obviously, the most common question we got when we launched was will people actually buy art online? And so we had the. Bryn through that and, learn the process. But, the businesses evolved over the years.

[00:03:16] Alex: We've done a lot of different things today. We're a small but really efficient team. So I lead the art curation and operations side, and then we have a few different roles in the company. We have our, client facing services. That's done by Samantha. She works with all of the clients in the business, and she also corresponds with some of our artists and, Corrina is our head of marketing and she oversees the different efforts we do to reach out to both artists and customers.

[00:03:47] Alex: And, with Corrina, there's a few people that work with her as well. We have one lady who prepares artwork for the site every week. So we're big into storytelling. Everything we do is focused around telling artists stories, telling specific stories about the artwork we show, and then Raymond,

[00:04:05] Alex: he works as well with Corrina to help outreach, meet new people all the time. And then, on the curation side, I work with my mother. she is a gallery owner for 40 years. She's retired now, but works with me. So I get her expertise and we get to choose the art we show. And then my sweetheart, Leah, she's been working with me at the business for four years now.

[00:04:27] Alex: she helps me with overall strategy and operations where the vision of the company, we decide what direction we're going. She helps oversee the marketing side and then we have our freelance team. we do our development offshore and we also have a great ad specialist and, the list goes on, but our team is small, but mighty and everyone here absolutely loves art, which is really.

[00:04:51] Isotta: so I was wondering, you said that your initial impetus was to introduce people to selling art online. So do you guys also have a physical location?

[00:05:00] Alex: We don't. We started online and we've stuck with that for a number of years. We had some office spaces here in San Francisco where I'm based where we showed art from time to time. And we also did the art fair circuit for awhile. We did a number of the affordable art fairs, especially in New York. And, those were great opportunities to meet people, but we found that mostly our clients were online anyways.

[00:05:24] Alex: So we would do events and sometimes we wouldn't sell anything at the event, but then people would come back and buy our on the website. And over time we just found that's really where our strength lies. So we're an all digital business, and that really speaks to who our client is as well. We have people who are really passionate about the arts, they do visit galleries and things like that, but oftentimes they're geographically located in places where there isn't a big gallery scene.

[00:05:51] Alex: and the same goes for our artists too. We work with creators all over the world. Unless you live in a center where there's lots of galleries, it's hard to make those connections. So we speak to those people. I have one client, for example, who's bought art from us for years. He lives in a rural town in Iowa and he says, we have some galleries here, but they only sell scenes of hunting.

[00:06:11] Alex: And he's like, I'm not interested in those things. So I come to you guys and I get a greater depth and get an opportunity to connect with artists that I wouldn't meet in my normal scene. So we stick with the online business.

[00:06:23] Isotta: that's so great because I feel like only in the past two years has the art world really recognized the power of online connection. so you guys have been trailblazing that for over 15 years.

[00:06:37] Alex: it's been a fun process to see the art world evolve in that way. And I think there's really still a very important place for the physical art world as well. I don't feel as though online galleries should replace the physical ones. To me, it seems like they both play an important role.

[00:06:53] Alex: It kind of depends on again where the clients and the artists are located. and what people's time and interests allows for sometimes people are even in these places where they can go to galleries, but maybe their busy schedules or just their personal preference for how they look at art leads to the internet.

[00:07:10] Alex: And so I think they both exist in a nice way. Plus I'm a personal fan of going and seeing art in person as well. I wouldn't want to see that going.

[00:07:19] Isotta: So how do you think that this kind of relationship between. The physical and the digital is evolving or changing.

[00:07:27] Isotta: Like, I guess people are more used to it now with online shopping, but what has your kind of learning curve been like over the years? Have you really struggled at the beginning to convince people to buy stuff online? Or was that really easy? I'm just wondering what the that narrative arc there was.

[00:07:42] Alex: you hit on it too. I think there was a natural evolution of what people were interested in looking out online and buying. Before you gallery, there really wasn't that much going on in terms of the gallery space. I think people were showing art. but as I mentioned, the most common question we got in the early days was will people actually borrow buy art online?

[00:08:01] Alex: And that was before people were buying cars and, food and all these other things on the internet. There's been this natural shift where people are more comfortable with buying things that aren't so straightforward from pictures, but that also speaks to our role as the gallery. One of the things we find is that having great pictures is really important.

[00:08:22] Alex: Really doing a good job to illustrate the artist, show the art in a way that makes it appealing. so that all goes into us being a highly curated gallery. We choose all the artists. We show, we pick all the pieces that we put on this. We write artist bio's for every artist we write write-ups for every piece.

[00:08:41] Alex: And so I think that goes a long way in making people feel comfortable. We also offer things like free shipping and free returns. So that just gives people a little bit more peace of mind. And in the last couple of years, certainly as people are more isolated at home and didn't have the options for the other things, I think they saw the opportunity.

[00:09:01] Alex: Well, okay. I still want to look for art. I still want to buy art, so let's check out, see what these kinds of other alternatives are on.

[00:09:09] Isotta: like. change in your business over the last few years, since you guys were already selling online. And it sounds like a pretty agile remote team.

[00:09:20] Alex: Yeah. mean really no change to our company. I had an office here in San Francisco for a number of years where we all worked there together. And then over the last few years, we shift to being an all remote team that was before the pandemic. So we were very poised for what happened, obviously.

[00:09:37] Alex: this has been a challenging time for everyone. And, I think there are certain things about it that were hard for us just being isolated. Overall, our business was ready for this. We have been selling this way for 16 years, so it was just a business as usual, thankfully, our business grew, but I know that is sometimes at the expense of the physical galleries.

[00:09:57] Alex: So I recognize that. I, like I said, I'd like to see a good ecosystem where we can all exist. I really looked at you galleries operating more or less like a traditional art gallery, but just with the tools of the internet at hand. so we can represent more artists and we can reach people and farther off places.

[00:10:16] Alex: but at the same time, we're doing a lot of the same things to help artists. Their career development, help coach them, give them the things they need and also develop really good long-term relationships with our clients. We sell to the same people year after year, and that's really nice. We can help them find the art that they're looking for, and we even do a big commission business.

[00:10:37] Alex: People come to us to, see projects to life that they have in mind, everything from commemorating family events, to things that are very specific sites specific. And that's just about having good dialogue and good relationships picking up the phone, talking to our clients, when possible I've loved to get together and meet with people.

[00:10:56] Alex: So you're getting drinks with our artists or having dinners with some of our customers. There are at least a few people here in San Francisco who I've become close with over the years. This is just a nice part of the business.

[00:11:08] Isotta: so in light of the agility that you guys have and how prepared you were for the tough circumstances of the pandemic, how do you see possible competitors or like just the industry at large, around you changing over the last few years

[00:11:27] Isotta: Well, it's really interesting to me. I've seen a couple periods since we've been in business where there's been a huge proliferation of new businesses in the space and typically a few survive and a bunch don't. and I think that's pretty normal since it's still a new industry. People are figuring out what people want.

[00:11:47] Alex: there's been all kinds of different services. I think, from the last couple of years, certainly. Probably been much harder to start a business. the competitors that have been around I think were strengthened in some ways, like we talked about just because more people are turning to them for art and the way I see the online art world evolving is with niche businesses.

[00:12:08] Alex: People who focus on specific things you mentioned were mostly 2d. That really is our focus. We sell paintings. We've sold prints over the years. We've sold sculpture. Alternative media, all kinds of things. but when it came down to it real realize our specialty was in helping painters, evaluating painters, and being really focused.

[00:12:28] Alex: And so I think that speaks to the whole industry, to the companies that are really focused on those things that they're doing. They're the ones that survive because they can tell their story succinctly they know their specialty and can thrive in that kind of environment. When new people come in with lots of ideas,

[00:12:47] Isotta: the idea of the niche is such an old one, but it's so cool that you guys have really been able to find it and cement it and also be able to measure your impact. So clearly over the last years, So in terms of how your gallery actually operates,what are kind of the most important things that you're looking for when seeking out new talent, new artists?

[00:13:10] Alex: so we review applications every week. People apply to us. We also reach out to artists that we feel passionate about. For the artists that apply to us. When we review applications, we look for a couple of things. We want to see that they have a cohesive body of work. does the art fit together?

[00:13:27] Alex: Do they have their own signature style worked out? so it makes it a little bit more marketable from our end, because we can tell a story about what the artist is. And we look to see, do they take pictures of their work? That makes sense. It's not that easy to photograph art, obviously, but it's really important.

[00:13:45] Alex: If you're going to show it in a digital space, you have to figure out how to frame it and light it properly so that when people look at. It really shines. and we look at artist's ability to be able to talk about themselves. we'll do a lot of the storytelling from our end, but we like to make sure that they can give us some information so we can build the story around. And then we just do a general look at their online exposure. We want to find artists who have sense of what the digital world is but also we're trying to be a gallery that shows unique things. we'll even talk with artists. We asked for exclusivity on all the pieces we should. But we're also cautious of showing art.

[00:14:23] Alex: If an artist has their work on say 10 gallery websites, because it makes it more difficult to stand out with Google. If you look up someone's name, you get all the results. So if they're on all these sites and especially showing the same work on the same sites, it makes it hard to stand out and be unique in that way.

[00:14:41] Alex: So those are the things that we look for in then. When we're searching out artists, we really try and find people who fill in our profiles, our portfolio, that they show unique things that we aren't putting on the site already, that can eliminate different parts of the art practice, and, just things that make us happy, sad.

[00:15:00] Alex: Give us emotional reaction, you know, aren't that we're passionate about.

[00:15:03] Isotta: it's really interesting to hear it be broken down so clearly like that, because I feel like no one ever really wants to lift behind the curtain and say this is how I make my choices as a curator or as a gallerist. And I really appreciate you sharing that with us. something I noticed that you've been returning to is this idea of storytelling and narrative.

[00:15:24] Isotta: and I think that's so amazing that's. Crucial point of your business and also how you sell artists work and how you share their stories. Everything with the world. So if you could give some tips on, you know, crafting that story because not everyone maybe is ready to apply to be in a gallery or, still figuring out their signature style or whatever.

[00:15:48] Isotta: path they're on and their creative journey. I'd love to hear from such a seasoned expert, like how you think crafting that narrative can be done,

[00:15:56] Alex: So for us, we speak to a very specific client. We have a customer avatar. Her name is Mary. We have two pages written about Mary, where she lives, what her interests are and all of that. So whenever we tell stories, we talk specifically to her in all of our marketing, whether it's our weekly emails or writing an artist, bio, or even just corresponding with a customer, we keep her in.

[00:16:20] Alex: And I think that for one makes it much easier because instead of trying to speak to everyone, you can envision that one person you're talking. That's the first part of it.

[00:16:29] Alex: And then we really try and distill it down to telling one good story. people's lives are very full, very diverse. So it's easy to say a lot of different things, but we try and focus in on one aspect of the artist's life.

[00:16:44] Alex: That's really interesting until that story. 'cause after all art is this emotional connection, right? So we're trying, especially not being in the same room together. We're trying to form this connection to tell a good story about this artist or this specific artwork. Okay. This painting say, we're looking at a landscape painting.

[00:17:03] Alex: Can we distill it down to the afternoon that artist was outside painting at their easel? Or if it's a portrait of someone, what that personal connection was. And then when we're telling these larger stories about the artists by. We'll ask a bunch of questions. When we get to know them for every artist that we onboard, we have a phone call and then we have a questionnaire and we just ask different questions and everyone elicits different responses.

[00:17:29] Alex: you were telling me when we started this call about your background, and having family from Rome and telling us about the, recent art installation you did here, toady, I feel like that would be something we would hone in on and tell this story about maybe the install of the sculpture you made.

[00:17:44] Alex: So something that would get people really into the scene have some sort of evocative response. And that's really it. it's not some great secret storytelling is an age old thing. People love to hear about, other people and get into their lives. So we just do whatever we can to kind of, ask the right questions that we'll get to those stories.

[00:18:05] Alex: And it's really powerful because that's how customers can connect with the art we show. They're all looking for that emotional connection. That's what art is about is expressing that. And, so that's how we see.

[00:18:15] Alex: it's very emotional connection So we just work on finding those common threads that connect the different people that we work with, the artists and the clients. And it's amazing. I send a weekly email, three emails a week actually. and we just tell artists stories. we write up a little interesting things about the pieces we're showing, and I put a signature at the bottom that says personal read and respond to all your emails.

[00:18:39] Alex: And it's amazing how many people. Respond to those emails with, oh, I've been to this place or, wow. That really touched me. this portrait reminds me of, my grandma or anything like that. So it really seeing it at work once, once we started doing that.

[00:18:55] Alex: it totally changed the nature of our business.

[00:18:57] Alex: It takes time. We definitely sat down over a number of weeks thinking about who it was for us. We were lucky because we'd been in business awhile so we could look. We did some fun things. We did a couple, in-depth interviews with clients that we had. We asked them to browse the site and ask them questions.

[00:19:16] Alex: And then we did a whole deep dive into our customers where they're from and, ask them questions through surveys about other interests and things. And it's just really very enlightening because, you know, we've made our fair share of mistakes over the. It took us a long time to learn some of these things.

[00:19:33] Alex: But once we unlocked, especially more about the client, it really changed how we talk to people and how we thought about our focus selling paintings and not trying to sell prints, knowing what our client was looking for, how much art they had consumed, how they consume their art, all those things. So it's really a fun process.

[00:19:53] Alex: please visit us@ugallery.com. You can go to ugallery.com/apply. If you're interested in exhibiting your work and you can reach out to us. If you have questions, if you email artists@ucla.com, we can talk to you and answer your question.

[00:20:10] Thanks so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Art Is… a podcast for artists

[00:20:13] Isotta: please leave Art Is… a podcast for artists, a rating and review in apple podcasts. It really helps others find us. You can support the work I do by subscribing wherever you listen.

[00:20:24] Isotta: And by donating to the podcast, the link to do so is in the episode, discuss. Okay. That's it for now. Thanks so much and see you next Wednesday.