What Are the Best Ways for Artists Not Named Andy Warhol to Handle Years of Unsold Art?

How to Handle Older, Unsold Art and Excess Artwork Inventory?

“I didn’t spend ten years making unsold art. I spent ten years pre-curating my future retrospective.”
—Marla Sage, Creative Archivist & Patron Saint of Slow Burn Careers

The question of what you can do with unsold art is a perplexing problem for many artists. Unfortunately, most of the solutions found by searching the internet for how to handle excess art inventory are ineffective. 

It is without question that figuring out what to do with unsold art is hard. It's just like marketing and selling art are difficult challenges, even for those who do such work professionally. Those artists who seriously work in the business of art often find they face significant challenges in consistently getting their work to market. That being the case, it's no wonder that unsold artwork inventory is a persistent problem.

Making More Than You Can Sell Is the Norm

These are things to consider:

• The harsh reality is that most artists will create more work that does not get to market than those who manage to create a predictable selling system that regularly moves their work.
• If artwork were widgets, it would be easy to say: recycle them or let them become rubbish.

However, for something lovingly crafted by hand from an artist's imagination, discarding excess inventory is a solution too bitter in most every instance.

Understanding the Why Helps Know How to Handle the Inventory of Unsold Art

Before artists get themselves into the problem of what to do with their unsold art, I think it is most helpful for them to understand why they are making the work in the first place. No two artists have the same reasons for making art. The second chapter of my Blueprint for Art Business Success is called "Setting Goals and Assessing Resources." The content's core is to help artists recognize what they expect to happen when they make art.

Making Art for Art's Sake Has Value

Some make art for art's sake and hope to sell it somehow, even though they don't have a plan or know how to make that happen. Others make art because they know it will sell, and they are eager to keep making art that has commercial appeal because it is better than a day job.

I think most artists are somewhere in the middle of those situations. They love making art. And they are willing to concede to making art they that will sell even when it is not what they would make if sales were not the goal. They are also willing to spend some of their time marketing their work, but, for most, not too much.

Making Art for Art's Sake Is Noble and Legitimate Even If It Leads to Unsold Art

Whether you make art for art's sake, make art specifically to sell, or are in the middle, unsold art is an issue. It's harder for artists who make physical products than in some other disciplines. Supposedly, Bruce Springsteen wrote 1,500 songs before he recorded his first album.

A poet, playwright, or author might pen hundreds or more works that never get published. While it is a shame, their work is not filling storage spaces everywhere. Because it's not in their faces staring back, it reduces the feelings of guilt many visual artists feel when constantly seeing their unsold works.

And because such works are unseen and unnoticed, it eliminates some snarky or unintentional, but nonetheless hurtful, comments from others who notice an artist's body of work piling up. 

Typical Unsold Art Solutions and Their Associated Problems

Research the internet and you will find many versions of the same suggestions. Unfortunately, most only create other problems.

• Paint over older pieces to create new artwork, which adds to the current inventory.
• Modify older work to match the current style, which also does not reduce inventory.
• Selling older artwork at much lower prices reduces confidence in current prices and may anger buyers of similar older works.
• Gifting art to family, friends, and others in the sphere of influence isn’t practical for productive artists because there are not enough people to go around.
• Sacrificing older artwork to the gods in a spirit-cleansing bonfire is an action most artists are not willing to take on their creative output, even in a spiritual setting.
• Give the art as a donation to a charity. ReRealistically, because the artist couldn't sell the work, most charities likely can't either; this just passes the problem along without solving it.  

How Knowing Your Why Helps Answer the Question of How to Handle Unsold Artwork

The answer that makes the most sense to me is anerstanding of why. You will have multiple reasons for making art, but there is a primary one. If your primary reason is to use your creative muscle and stretch your imagination, then you are among many others who share this motivation. The second part of the solution is to permit yourself to be an artist who makes art for art's sake. That means letting go of guilt about your work not selling as you wanted.

As I said at the outset, selling art is a challenging thing. Most right-brained artists are reluctant to take on the challenge of marketing their work. The result is an accumulation of physical works of art that are difficult to sell. I don't blame them for being who they are. If anything, I can relate.

Marketing and Sales Are Often Hard, Even for Professionals

Although I've been in marketing and sales for 40 years, there are things I could never bring myself to do. Had I been willing to lower my standards, violate my sense of fairness, and lose touch with my conscience, I could have used my knowledge and skills to enrich myself with ill gains, maybe not illegal, but still shady ways of making a buck. I could never do it. 

You rarely get anything close to a hard sell from me. I want you to buy my books and courses, but I can promote them as I choose. Making and marketing things for maximum profit is a low priority for me. I enjoy the creative and sharing aspects much more than marketing. I think the same is true for many artists. I'd bet you can relate. I look at things through a lens of practical minimalism, which simply means designing your creative life around clarity, not clutter—so your energy goes where it matters most.

Having this self-realization helps me understand why an artist might be reluctant to engage deeply in marketing. Marketing is far from glamorous. It is hard work that requires a significant amount of time to yield satisfying results. By comparison, making art is a seductive, cerebral, and even spiritual process, about as far from business as one can get.

The Physical Aspect of Unsold Art Is the Problem

The problem with most visual art is that it requires storage as a physical object. If you don't want to part with the image, why not remove it from the stretcher bars and roll it up? Sure, you can do the things mentioned above; however, if you want to preserve the artwork, roll it up. How many pieces can you fit into a single tube? You can inventory it with pictures to view on your tablet or computer. And you can revive any you wish at anytime with relative ease. 

Let go of the time and expense; consider it the cost of the experience. You would have liked to have gotten paid for the work, but that didn't happen. Decreasing the physical size of your inventory reduces clutter in your life, your brain, and your home, office, studio, and storage. People with other serious passions spend as much or more time and expense as many artists invest in their art journey. We don't judge them for their decisions. You have no obligation to justify the kind of artist you are and what you do with your art. I've found for most artists that having side hustles helps pay the bills. That's a respectable option. 

Keep Your Artwork and Lose Your Guilt

You don't need to be a master art marketer who sells every piece of artwork.  You can be a happy artist who enjoys the process of creating art for its own sake. If you discover a few methods to sell your art that suit you, that's wonderful! Just don't let anyone shame you, throw guilt at you, or tell you. That decision is yours alone to make.  

Determine to Be on the Path of Creating a Well-Lived, Joyful Artist's Life

 However, regardless of your path, establish a personal agreement with yourself to embrace your identity as an artist.  You don't owe anyone an explanation of what you created or what happened to your artwork after it was finished. You can be an artist who creates art for art's sake, and what happens to it commercially is secondary. If you find such notions resonate, please check out my new book: The Artist's Guide to Creative Side Hustles & Hybrid Careers. It's a little book with large ambitions to change your life in the best way possible.