chriswoodartist

I am mystified, the running order on my stats page for my WordPress website always comes up with first, the HOME PAGE, (no surprise there), and second is always 3D. Is this an indicator that sculpture is the new most popular art form ? To add further context to this I am an established artist with over 50 years experience, I used to teach sculpture and I made a number of pieces that clog up my home and studio. I never once sold a piece of sculpture so I returned to where I began, as a painter and printmaker. My website has a 2D gallery and a PRINT gallery and separate pages for specific 2D projects, e.g. GARDEN PAINTINGS etc but these rarely feature high up the list of stats. I’m not concerned just amused.

I have recently been thinking about my marketing strategy and wondering whether I should market myself more online. I treat my website like a portfolio and don’t specifically set it out like a shop or art store. I am nervous of having a “shop” as there are increasing numbers of artists being scammed. So far I have relied on galleries for sales but bricks and mortar art galleries are closing at an alarming rate and artists are having to reinvent how they market themselves. Sadly, to fill the gap, there seems to be a burgeoning number of entrepreneurs (sharks) swimming around and hoovering up the gullible. Every day my inbox is full with “well wishers” trying to make a living out of my work. Traditional galleries make their living from commissions – for example local galleries take 30-35% of the price that you see on the wall and London galleries charge up to 70% but somehow that seems acceptable, whereas, this new generation of marketing guru’s, who aggressively sell open ended print runs of artwork and are not concerned about quality of the art or working with the artist to build their careers. They offer “advice and education”, they offer to build free websites but for a huge fee that many fledgling artists can’t afford.

I digress, this started off as me being perplexed about the number of hits on my 3D page ! I’m not sure how I should respond – if at all ! Do I make more sculpture in the hope that these new viewers will turn into buyers ? Do I use my sculpture page as a sprat to catch a mackerel ? In other words do I soldier on in the hope that the punters who like sculpture might also be tempted to look at my other pages. The answer is out there somewhere. . .

What are your thoughts on my dilemma ? If there are any artists reading this who have any experience of selling in 2026 please enlighten me. . .