Help!

It's hard to sell sculpture. Please let me know if you want to hear some of the reasons.

Recently I sent a letter to the directors or curators of about eight Ohio art museums. Here's the letter. If you have suggestions, please let me know.

Dear _____________

I am a sculptor seeking a permanent museum home for the best works of my career.

My work is conservative rather than innovative, but I have assimilated my influences [primarily Brancusi, Arp, Moore, Calder] well and these are complex and beautiful works, achieved over decades of development. This is substantial abstract work that requires and rewards visual attention.

I am little known apart from those who visit a mountain in Japan ( Dying King '88, Utsukushi-ga-hara Open-Air Museum, Japan: Henry Moore Competition, 1991 ), so I am seeking a museum that appreciates my work and is not deterred by my limited reputation.

Would the __________ Museum be interested in considering this body of work, in part or as a whole, for its collection? I hope that you will be interested in seeing and considering the actual work.

I am sending this letter to museums, primarily in Ohio, and to individuals who might offer useful suggestions. I don't mean to take up the attention of anyone who is not interested in my work, but I will appreciate any responses of interest or advice.

If you find that you are interested in this work, I would ask that you pay particular attention to the Dying King '88. This, with its complex references to landscape and to the reclining torso, is the key work of my career. This body of work is varied and beautiful, and the Dragon Rock (2012) is a late tour-de-force: still, after thirty years, the Dying King remains as the culmination of my effort and the work I am most concerned with preserving.

Sincerely yours,

bruce macadam

[ It might as well be mentioned that this letter elicited only one response, from a curator who said he was too busy. Poets commonly receive rejection notes: this responsiveness appears to be absent from art establishments. Granted, most museums and galleries don't have a lot of extra room for sculpture, and a kind rejection note might generate more unwanted inquiries, complete with pictures. This letter is included here as an example of a hopeless project. Other examples could probably be found on-line under headings like "how to sell your art", "how to generate interest in your work", and such. It might be kind for a foundation to establish a dedicated landfill for unsold art, so future generations of anthropologists could dig there for unrecognized works of interest. ]