A number of artists in Jeddah said they need the full support of art associations to enable them to organize their own galleries.

Rent prices of exhibition halls in Jeddah have reached more than SR 10,000 per week as hall owners seek to share in the profits made by artists selling their work. Some hall owners stipulating taking as much as 30 percent of an art gallery's profits as a precondition to allowing use of their halls although the price of any one single piece of art does not exceed SR 20,000 in maximum.

Artists are often unable to sell their paintings and face financial difficulty when paying for the use of an exhibition hall.

“To organize art galleries, you need to pay rent and manage huge advertisements, invitation cards and brochures. Strong support of art associations is absent in the Kingdom,” Mohammed Al-Rayees, an artist, told Arab News.

The success of an art exhibition is dependent on a number of factors. The artist's name or event planner can play a big role in attracting a large number of visitors and selling art work at a high price.

However, many public relations companies that work to organize art galleries through implementing huge advertising plans and reserving premier exhibition halls in Jeddah require at least SR 1 million for undertaking such an endeavor while other artists have monthly contracts with PR companies to organize art galleries for SR 5,000 per month.

“There are also minimal requirements for developing any art gallery, such as strategic marketing, social media and public relations. Such services will surely multiply costs of organizing an art gallery. Artists require huge capital to be able to showcase their work with such a return on investment,” Raneem Al-Farsi, a consultant in art investments, told Arab News.

“Jeddah is the most popular city in the Kingdom for art activities. However, the success of art galleries depends on the name of the artists who participate in these galleries. Art gallery visitors who are likely to buy such paintings often have enough of a background of the 14 art methodologies and as such, are able to evaluate paintings and put a proper price tag on them for purchase,” Sadeeq Wasel, an artist, told Arab News. Auctions that have been organizing in art galleries to sell art work still need to be more circulated among art gallery organizers in the Kingdom.

The idea of organizing an auction to sell artists' works is still new and needs time to be an essential part of art gallery production in Saudi Arabia.

“Some art galleries in Jeddah have been implementing the auction strategy for the past 2 years. However, the turnout of visitors to such events remains low,” Al-Rayees added.