No. Imagine walking into a store, seeing something you like, taking it up to the checkout counter, and being told, “Sorry– this one’s sold. You’ll have to find something else.” People who see lots of sold art may be impressed with your ability to sell, but they also get the impression that all the good stuff’s gone, and all they have to choose from are the dregs nobody wants. If you want to put sold art on your website, be purposeful about it. For example, put up a handful of pieces that have sold to significant collectors, businesses, institutions, or organizations.

Here’s the deal with big art– people who buy big art (and galleries that show big art) generally like it to be by big artists, big in name that is. A few galleries cater to commercial concerns like corporate clienteles who need art for large spaces, but again, they tend to have very specific requirements for what they show. The truth is that most people who buy big art do so to impress, and one of the best ways to impress is with the stature and reputation of the artist who makes it. So if you’re early in your career or are still building your resume, think about sizing down. Big paintings are OK to a point; they generally make your smaller pieces look better– kind of a coattail effect. But the key here is to think seriously about producing more medium or smaller sized works, not only because they take up less wall space (and storage space), but also because they’re more affordable. In general, the more options you can offer to buyers size-wise, especially early on in your career, the better.

That depends. If your website is meant to be an online retrospective of your art, then yes. But if it’s intended to sell art or get you shows, stick with what you’re doing now. If you want to put up older works, limit them to art that’s reasonably relevant to your present direction, and clearly separate them from your current work. The less relevant it is, the more you should think about leaving it off the website. Plus, you don’t want potential buyers to get interested in art you no longer make. And please– do not put up everything you’ve ever done since your first scribble at age two.

The idea that someone established in the art business is supposed to give total strangers contact information is absurd. To begin with, they have absolutely no idea who you are, what you’re like as a person, what you’re capable of as an artist, or how you are to work with. The way the art world works is that people only refer artists who they already know, and they only refer them to dealers or galleries who they already know (and who already know them). Art business relationships are built on trust, familiarity, and successions of mutually beneficial transactions that accrue over time. No one wants to jeopardize his or her standing or credibility in the art community by arbitrarily giving out contact information to artists they don’t know. When referrals are made, they’re made for specific reasons, with specific intentions, with specific outcomes in mind, and between people who already know and trust each other.