Selling artwork is always difficult, especially in the UK for some reason. People are reluctant to buy artwork - maybe they think it’s expensive or that you need to be an expert in the “art world” before buying art? Neither of these are true, but these attitudes seem prevalent.
I could sit and moan about this, but I decided to try something different. Taking inspiration from some of the high-quality collectable CD and DVD box sets I’ve treated myself to over the years, frequently full of various interesting extras and other bits & pieces, I wondered whether the same format would work for visual artwork.
And so out of that speculation came the Shadows of the Hinterlandscape Limited Edition Box Set of my artwork.
Shadows of the Hinterlandscape is a box set collection of some of my previously published artwork and some which hasn’t been published before. The box set is strictly limited to 20 hand-numbered copies and contains:
- Photographs taken at the Edge of the Wood at Midnight - a set of 4 digital photographic prints that are available on my online shop separate to this box set, each 148mm × 210mm, all signed on reverse,
- The Moss Guardian (through a glass, darkly) - a new digital photographic print, 148mm × 210mm, signed on reverse,
- Come Unto the Corn (a foreshadowing) - a new digital photographic print, 148mm × 210mm, signed on reverse,
- The Procession - a new digital photographic print of a charcoal drawing, 148mm × 210mm, signed on reverse,
- Postcards: Drawings, 2014 - a set of 4 postcards that are available on my online shop separate to this box set, each 105mm × 148mm,
- Medea Postcards - a set of 5 postcards that are available on my online shop separate to this box set, each 105mm × 148.5mm,
- Also included is a Come Unto the Corn bookmark, which I decided to get printed as a piece of ephemera (I have a curiosity for pieces of ephemera).
This embarrassment of riches is all contained within the hand-labelled and -numbered box, wrapped in black tissue paper and sealed with sealing wax (that I picked up a few years ago on a trip to Slovenia). All this for £25 (excluding shipping).
It’s started to sell well, so I might well be looking at doing more (different) limited edition box sets in the future, and I might also be mining the music and cinematic industries for other ways of selling artwork.
In the meantime, if you want to get your hands on one before they all sell out, there are still some copies of Shadows of the Hinterlandscape left on my online shop.