Artist handbook

This handbook explains how Artshoppy works with artists: how to approach the gallery, what goes on your profile, and what happens when a work sells.

Artshoppy is a gallery, not an open marketplace. There is no seller account to register and no way to upload work to the site yourself. The gallery chooses the works it shows, photographs or receives photographs of them, writes their details and lists them.

Write to the gallery at support@artshoppy.com or on WhatsApp at +91 99039 71710.

A useful first message includes:

  • your name as you want it published, and where you live and work;
  • a short statement about what you make;
  • eight to twelve photographs of recent work, with the title, year, medium, and height × width in centimetres for each;
  • whether the works are available, and the prices you have in mind;
  • where you have exhibited, if anywhere.

The gallery's owner reviews every submission and decides which artists and works the gallery takes on. The gallery replies within 2 working days (Monday to Saturday, 10am to 7pm IST). There is no charge to submit work for review.

The gallery works with artists based in India.

Terms

  • Commission. The gallery takes a 30% commission on the sale price; the artist receives 70%. On a ₹1,00,000 sale, the artist receives ₹70,000.
  • Price. The gallery sets the price of every work.
  • Consignment. Works are held at the gallery, on consignment, until they sell. The artist delivers the work to the gallery in Kolkata.
  • Withdrawing a work. An artist can withdraw a consigned work with 30 days' notice, then collects it from the gallery in Kolkata.
  • Exclusivity. An artist is free to show and sell with other galleries, and to sell their other works anywhere. A work consigned to Artshoppy stays at the gallery, so it cannot be sold elsewhere while it is here.
  • Costs. The gallery pays for photographing the work, for packing it, and for framing where a work is framed. Delivery to the buyer is free, so the artist does not pay to ship a sold work to its buyer.
  • Payment. The artist is paid by bank transfer, to details the gallery collects when it takes the work on, never through the website. Because a returned work is not paid out, payment follows 30 days after the buyer's 30-day return window closes — about 60 days after the work is delivered to the buyer.
  • Tax paperwork. The artist provides their PAN and bank details when the gallery takes a work on, never through the website.
  • Prints and editions. The gallery does not make or sell reproductions of an artist's originals. Prints the artist made as prints, in a limited or open edition, are works in their own right and stay on sale on the terms agreed for them.

Your profile

Every artist with work in the gallery has a public profile. It carries your name, a portrait, a biography, where you live and work, your education, selected exhibitions and press, and all of your works on show.

  • Nothing about a living artist is published without their agreement. The gallery drafts your biography from what you send and from published sources, and sends it to you to correct before it goes live.
  • You are the authority on your own name. Tell the gallery the spelling you use, and it is used everywhere: on your profile, your works and in the Journal.
  • Collectors can follow you. They are then told when new work by you arrives.
  • Collectors can ask about a commission from your profile. The gallery brings the request to you, and the answer is yours to give. Say if you do not take commissions.

To change anything on your profile, write to the gallery.

Photographing your work

The photograph is how a collector abroad first sees your work, and often the only way. A clear photograph taken on a phone in daylight is better than a soft one taken on an expensive camera.

  • Photograph the work straight on, with the camera centred and level, so the edges are parallel.
  • Use daylight from a window or outdoors in shade, not direct sun and not a flash.
  • Fill the frame with the work and crop to its edges. Send a second photograph showing the sides if they are painted.
  • Send the largest file you have: at least 3,000 pixels on the longer side. The artwork page offers a zoom, and it only shows brushwork if the file is large enough.
  • Send one close photograph of a passage of surface, and one of the signature.
  • Do not add filters, borders or a watermark.

Measuring your work

Give dimensions as height × width, in centimetres, measured on the work itself, not a frame. For sculpture, add the depth. Every page shows centimetres with inches beside them, and On the Wall uses these numbers to hang the work at true scale. A wrong measurement makes the work look the wrong size on a collector's wall.

When a work sells

  1. The work comes off sale on the site as soon as it is ordered, so it cannot be sold twice.
  2. The gallery tells the artist by WhatsApp or email.
  3. The gallery signs and issues the certificate of authenticity for the work.
  4. The gallery dispatches the work from Kolkata, where it has been held on consignment.
  5. The gallery pays the artist by bank transfer, once the buyer's 30-day return window has closed and 30 days have passed — about 60 days after delivery to the buyer. A returned work is not paid out.

Your personal details

No personal data was carried over from the gallery's previous website. The gallery will contact artists to confirm their consent to a public profile. How the gallery handles personal data is set out in the privacy policy.

Questions

Write to the gallery at support@artshoppy.com or on WhatsApp at +91 99039 71710.