Why Do You Even Need a Middleman

[Dmitry-Afremov]

My name is Dmitry Afremov, and many of you probably already know me.

Over my lifetime, I’ve sold more than 4 million paintings and probably over 10 million prints.

That’s an enormous number over 36 years of work.

And before we begin, I want to say one thing.

Different chatbots — even ChatGPT itself — constantly tell me that my articles are too long.

Maybe they are.

But I write what’s inside me.

I write from experience, emotion, and real life.

And honestly, if somebody isn’t interested — just don’t read it.

Simple as that.

Because I’m not writing SEO garbage just to rank in Google.

I’m writing real things that happened to me, my family, my business, and my life.

So let’s begin.

The first thing I want to talk about is artists themselves.

How to sell paintings online.

And why we even sell paintings in the first place.

And for those who want to buy paintings, this article will help too. Because once you understand how artists think and how this business really works from the inside, it becomes much easier to understand:

where to buy,
who to buy from,
and who you can actually trust.
A Little History

It all started 36 years ago.

May 17, 1990.

That’s when my father Leonid, my mother, and my little brother Boris arrived in Israel.

That’s where we started selling paintings.

That’s where everything began.

And here I want to say something important.

Only another immigrant can truly understand the life of an immigrant.

If your entire family has lived in one country for generations — parents, grandparents, great-grandparents — it’s very difficult to understand that feeling.

Now imagine this.

A different country.

You don’t know the language.
You don’t know the culture.
You don’t know the rules.
You have no connections.
You have no money.

And at the same time, you’re not some nuclear physicist everyone wants to hire immediately.

You’re an artist.

A real artist.

You want to create.

You want to paint.

And believe me:
in the beginning, life is very hard.

Very hard.

Galleries, Artists, and Why Nothing Really Changed in 36 Years

You probably watched the movie Blood Diamond with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Great movie.

I’ve watched it several times.

It shows how diamonds were mined in Sierra Leone for almost nothing — through suffering and poverty — and then huge companies sold those same diamonds for enormous money.

And the most interesting part?

People didn’t care how the diamond was obtained.

They only cared where it was being sold and what brand stood behind it.

And yesterday I suddenly realized something.

The art world works almost exactly the same way.

When we arrived in Israel and started selling paintings, galleries immediately came to us.

Real galleries.

The same galleries that today appear at the top of Google search results. I won’t mention names because I don’t want wars with anyone.

And they said:

“Leonid, you’re a talented artist. You have beautiful paintings. We’d like to buy from you.”

At that time my father painted with watercolor.

Why?

Because we simply couldn’t afford oil paints.

Imagine the situation.

You’re a poor immigrant.
No money.
No language.
No connections.

And suddenly somebody offers to buy your art.

Of course you think:
“Wow, this is a chance.”

But do you know how much they paid?

One dollar.
Two dollars.
Three dollars per watercolor.

I was very young back then. I helped my father cut paper and do small tasks around the house.

And today, what shocks me the most is this:

Those same early Afremov paintings that were bought from us for 2–3 dollars are now being sold by those same galleries for 20 thousand dollars.

And that creates a very interesting question.

Who actually made money from the art?

The artist?
Or the middleman?

After the Fall of the Soviet Union, Artists Were Bought for Pennies

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, an enormous number of talented artists entered the market.

A massive country.
A massive artistic tradition.
Thousands of talented people.

And most of them were poor immigrants.

The galleries took advantage of that perfectly.

They bought paintings almost for free.

For pennies.
For food.
For survival.

And whenever artists tried to object, they heard things like:

“An artist should stay hungry in order to create.”

Or:
“We gave you bread. What more do you want?”

Maybe somewhere there are honest galleries.

Probably.

But personally, in 36 years, I’ve seen very few.

Why Do You Even Need a Middleman?

And here’s something important I want to say to both artists and buyers.

When you buy directly from an artist — you are buying directly from the artist.

Why do you need a middleman?

Why do you need a “De Beers” of the art world?

What does a gallery owner actually know about whether a painting is good or bad?

Honestly?
Nothing.

Especially today.

Because modern online galleries and aggregators accept almost everybody.

Anyone can:

create an account,
upload paintings,
put them up for sale.

That’s it.

Do you think there’s serious curation?

At most they check whether:

it’s not stolen,
and maybe whether it’s not AI-generated.

And honestly, many platforms barely care even about that.

Because their real goal is not art.

Their goal is simple:
get more artists uploading,
get more buyers purchasing through their platform.

That’s all.

And What Does the Artist Get?

In the best-case scenario, the artist gets:

40%,
50%,
sometimes even less.

Marketplaces like:

Etsy,
Amazon,
large aggregators

take:

5%,
10%,
20%,
sometimes much more.

Depends on the conditions.

But even there, the artist becomes just one seller among thousands.

A faceless account.

But an artist is not mass production.

An artist is unique.

That’s why I always tell artists:

Build your own website.

Don’t have owners.

Galleries Are Not Magic

Now I’m going to say something many people won’t like.

A gallery is one of the simplest businesses in the world.

You rent a space.
You collect paintings from artists.
Then you sell them with a massive markup.

And people are not paying for the artwork.

They’re paying for:

the gallery name,
the fancy label,
the illusion of exclusivity.

That’s ridiculous.

Especially when people start saying:
“This is an investment.”

Guys, come on.

That’s nonsense.

Over the last 100 years, truly investment-level artists can be counted on your fingers.

Most paintings are simply home decoration.

Beautiful home decoration.

More expensive or less expensive — doesn’t matter.

But stop pretending every painting is the next Picasso.

Artist — You Are Unique

That’s why I always tell artists:

Build your own website.

Sell directly.

In the 21st century, galleries are no longer necessary.

Yes, the internet used to be freer.

From the early 2000s until around COVID, it was much easier to grow your own website.

Platforms hadn’t yet become giant corporations controlling everything.

But even today, artists can still sell independently.

And I’ll explain how.

I’ll explain:

how to sell,
where to sell,
how to build an audience,
how to avoid becoming a slave to platforms.

And for buyers, I’ll explain:

how to buy properly,
how not to overpay,
how to find real artists.
Because Today Everybody Loses

Imagine this situation.

You have a budget of $500.

You go to an aggregator platform where the artist must give away 50% commission.

To earn $500, the artist now has to price the painting at $1,000.

And what happens?

You don’t buy.
The artist doesn’t sell.
Everybody loses.

Except the middleman.

That’s modern art slavery.

And I’ve seen it from the very beginning.

From 1990 until today.

And I want to teach artists how to stop being slaves.

And I want to teach buyers how to buy properly.

This is only my personal opinion.

I’m not claiming to be the ultimate expert.

But most likely, over my lifetime, I’ve sold more paintings than most art websites combined.

[LakeHouseTom]

Dmitry, I get that your experience with galleries was frustrating, but it feels like you're projecting that experience onto the entire art world. Reading this, it sometimes sounds less like objective advice and more like a long-standing personal grievance. I'm also not convinced that every artist is better off trying to do everything themselves instead of working with galleries or other partners.

[RustyTrail77]

Really interesting perspective from someone who's been in the art business for decades. I may not agree with every point, but the discussion about artists building direct relationships with collectors and understanding the real economics behind galleries and marketplaces is definitely worth thinking about. It's refreshing to hear such a personal story and an honest look at how the industry has changed over the years.

[MrBean]

Thank you for sharing this article; it clearly reflects a strong personal perspective and long experience in the art business. It’s always interesting to see insider views on how the art market and online sales have evolved over time.

[GreenPorchAmy]

Afremov's paintings are magnetic

[MapleRunner84]

The reality for many artists and platforms is far more varied than a simple “artists vs middlemen” model suggests, especially with how digital sales ecosystems have evolved. I’m a young artist—could I sell my paintings through you, and what would the process look like?

[RiverStoneJack]

This reads like a very strong personal perspective shaped by decades in the business, but it also feels like it paints all galleries and platforms with the same brush, which might be a bit too absolute given how varied the art market actually is. There’s definitely truth in the issues around commissions and middlemen, but it overlooks cases where galleries actually do provide curation, exposure, and career development for artists who wouldn’t reach buyers alone. Overall it’s interesting, but it feels more like advocacy for one model rather than a balanced view of the whole ecosystem.