Selling art is hard work. It is a challenge to find buyers, and it takes effort for every single sale to occur. Because it is difficult, it is very natural for artists—even established ones—to wonder if they are doing something wrong. We are constantly looking for clues, secrets, or feedback that will unlock the door to consistent sales.
So, when a gallery owner or an art professional finally offers a specific critique, we tend to listen intently.
Your immediate reaction might be panic. You might look around your studio at your stacks of small panels and think, Has this format gone the way of the dinosaur? Do I need to buy huge canvases to be taken seriously? Is my pricing strategy a disaster?
Before you overhaul your entire studio practice, I want to offer a word of caution. We must be very careful about drawing broad conclusions from a sample size of one.
The Danger of the “Gospel” Opinion
When someone in a position of authority states an opinion, they often state it like it is Gospel. They don’t say, “In my personal experience, I struggle to sell small works.” They say, “Small works don’t sell.”
There is a massive difference between those two statements.
When you receive feedback like this, you need to engage your skepticism. Ask yourself: What data is this person using to back up that claim? Have they conducted a massive survey of hundreds of galleries across the broader art market? Have they analyzed revenue streams globally regarding the scale of artwork?
Almost certainly, the answer is no.
What that gallery owner is actually saying is much more limited: “In my specific gallery, with my specific lighting, wall space, and current client list, I find it easier to sell large canvases.”
That is a valuable piece of data about that specific venue, but it is not a diagnosis of the entire art market.
Context is King
To understand why rejection happens, we have to look at context.
If you walk through the gallery district in Chelsea, New York, or other major metropolitan arts hubs, you will often find massive industrial spaces with high ceilings and vast white walls. In that specific architectural context, a 12×12 inch painting might get lost. The overhead costs of running such a space might necessitate selling works priced at $15,000 and up, rather than $800.
If you try to push small, intimate works into that market, you will face resistance.
However, that does not mean the market for small works is dead. It means that specific neighborhood isn’t the right fit. There are countless collectors living in apartments, historic homes, or cottages who literally do not have the wall space for a 60-inch canvas. There are galleries in coastal towns, boutique districts, and online marketplaces that thrive precisely because they specialize in smaller, collectable treasures.
If you find yourself batting your head against a wall trying to find a home for your work, the problem might not be your work. The problem might be the wall.
The Filter Test
So, how do you know when to listen to feedback and when to ignore it? You need a filter. When you receive a strong opinion about your size, medium, subject, or pricing, run it through these three questions:
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Is this feedback supported by my own wider research? (e.g., Do I see other galleries selling work like mine?)
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Is this feedback specific to their business model? (e.g., Do they only sell monumental abstract expressionism?)
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Does acting on this feedback compromise my artistic motivation?
If a gallery tells you they only want 6-foot canvases, but you hate working that large and your studio can’t accommodate it, do not change your art to please them. The moment you start creating work solely to satisfy a single gatekeeper’s opinion, you lose the spark that makes the work compelling in the first place.
Pivot, Don’t Panic
My advice is always to keep doing the work that excites you—the work that gets you out of bed in the morning. Create that work, and then go out and find the marketplace that exists for that work.
If you are getting pushback on your small panels in one city, don’t switch to large canvas. Switch cities. Look for galleries in different regions. Look for venues that have an aesthetic that matches yours.
We are fortunate to live in a diverse market with a vast array of buyers. There is almost certainly a niche for what you do. Don’t let a “sample size of one” convince you otherwise.
Have you ever received a piece of critical feedback that you initially took to heart, only to realize later it was just one person’s preference? Let me know in the comments.