Fractal Fringe - My Auction Experience

Every so often, someone "out there" in the world of fractals contemplates selling their stuff, either online, at an auction or at some kind of art exhibition. I'm no exception and recently had the opportunity to offer some of my work up for auction to raise funds for a local school where I relieve.

The process started when I saw the auction being advertised at school and volunteered some artworks. The organiser was the art teacher who was passionate about art and very encouraging about my work. After consulting with her, I picked out three images and then had them printed up as A2 images, using archival ink (the expensive stuff that does not fade). After the effort of finding a "cheap" printer, I then had the fun task of getting the images framed. To cut a long story short, my next door neighbour, who frames stuff as a hobby, came to my rescue and made the frames for me.

I then took the works to the school and supplied them with "auction notes" which gave the names of the images and the technical specifications (info about the ink, stock and frames). I placed a modest reserve of $40.00 (NZ) on the artworks. This amount would not really cover the cost of printing and frames and I figured if the artworks could not fetch at least this, then they should not be sold.

With pictures printed, framed and submitted, I waited with eager anticipation for the big day. It finally arrived (on Friday). The auction itself was interesting. It featured work by both talented students at the school and some of the staff. Nibbles and drinks were provided and the atmosphere was lovely. All the other works were basically acrylic / oil on canvas and mine were the only prints. Needless to say, only one of mine sold and then it only just reached its reserve. The other two came home with me.

This was an interesting experiment for several reasons and it taught me quite at bit. Here's what I learned

• Printing and framing artworks can be quite expensive. Its worth it to first find a reasonably priced large frame and then have the work printed to fit the frame. Doing it the other way round makes life quite difficult as custom framing work can cost three to four times what it cost to print the work. Obviously one can print works and sell them unframed, but it might pay to talk to buyers and find out what they want and ensure that they realise framing can be costly.


• If you're going to auction work, it probably helps to make sure that the people attending the auction will know about fractal art / be eager to buy prints. If your work is very different to everyone else, then be prepared to see blank faces and no bids when it goes under the hammer (not fun).


• Set a reserve! I'm really glad I did this otherwise my work would have been sold for less than it cost to print and that would have hurt a lot more than it not selling at all.


• Before you print / submit work, have people who you can give your work to in case it does not sell. Nothing is sadder than going to all the effort to have work printed, failing in the attempt and then having the work lie around "homeless" after the event. Happily whilst only one of my works sold, all of them have now found great homes. One will go to my dad's office (he liked it even before it got printed) and the other now graces my mom's sewing room. She was so excited about getting the work that in a way, I'm glad it did not get sold.

I think at the end of the day, fractals are still on the fringe of the art world. Many people don't know what they are and when exposed to them for the first time, they often don't "get" them. My experience has been that the majority of people out there don't "get it" but the few that do will be passionate / enthusiastic about the images they see. Perhaps it is best to realise that fractals, for now remain the art of the future and unless you have the right audience, disappointment is a very real risk. Below are the three images that were auctioned off along with notes on their eventual fate:

Sanctuary (sold for $40.00)



Clockwork Orange (destined for my dad's office wall)



Liquid Dreaming (now happily residing in my mom's workroom)



Despite the disappointment of my work not being sold for insane amounts of money, going through the experience was still worthwhile. It gave me some indication of what the current market thinks of my work and was also valuable in that I now know where to get my stuff printed and how to go about doing it effectively. Perhaps the best place to sell fractal works is online, amongst people who have been exposed to the artform and have a clear idea of what they want. Of course, if there is anyone "out there" who would like to buy my images, they can email me and we can figure something out.