Create a Gallery Wall in Your Studio

One of the hottest trends in home decor right now is the "gallery wall." What's a gallery wall? It's a collection of prints and paintings all hung on the same wall to create a "gallery" look. Think of the old salon style way of hanging art and you'll get the idea.  I remember seeing pictures of Gertrude Stein's home in Paris with the typical nineteenth century salon style gallery wall.  Yeah, a few Picassos and a couple of Matisses will do nicely, thank you.

Many years ago I sold a framed pastel painting to a wonderful collector here in San Francisco. He asked me to deliver the piece to his home the following day.  I arrived at his home at the top of Twin Peaks and entered the expansive living room filled with light from the huge windows overlooking San Francisco Bay.  On the largest wall in the room there was a gallery wall collection of framed pieces by artists the like of Lichtenstein, Hockney, Picasso and Thiebaud.  A framed Picasso print was resting on the floor, leaving a blank spot on the wall.  The collector looked at me and said, "I thought this would be a good spot for your piece, what do you think?" "Oh, yes, that's perfect," I stammered, looking at the Picasso print that my work had just upstaged.  Take that Pablo!

My beloved dog, Soxx, in the studio circa 2014.

I often set up a gallery wall in my studio for visits from art consultants, potential buyers and during Open Studio sales.  It can greatly enhance the way your work is seen and in fact, can generate sales. Framing and presentation of the work is often seen by the artist as the sole responsibility of the buyer. You could be missing out on sales by overlooking presentation.

Gallery style wall for a visiting art consultant. 

At the left is a typical gallery wall setup that I use for a visiting art consultant.  There's a school of thought that says you should not offer the buyer more than three choices.  I don't think that's the case with wholesale buyers and art consultants fall into that category.  That idea may be true for the single-purchase buyer, but in my experience, a gallery wall presentation works great for art consultants.


By the way, I sold six paintings that day.

And let's not forget online presentation. So many artists are selling online it's difficult to stand out in the crowd. You can take advantage of presentation and staging to sell work online too.  Check out one of my typical online listings here. You'll see that I show the work installed in a typical home setting. I use Adobe Stock Images to create images for  presentation.

Whether it's a gallery wall or a stock photo, use every tool available to present your work in the best fashion. After all, the work deserves it, right?