Art Writing

General Advice for Newer Artists

From the subjective point of view of a commercial gallery supervisor

So you’re starting out. You make things. You want to be able to financially support yourself via the things you make. You’re not in the privileged position of having an existing financial support network (No rich parents).

Here’s a few random bits of advice.

Do your admin. For all that is good on this green earth, do your admin. Do it in a way that works for you, but just do it. By this I mean document your work. Take decent photos of it, save them as JPEGs, title those JPEGs, and make a list of your work. Even better, make a spreadsheet. What is it called, what’s it made of, how big is it, how much money would you like for it. The benefit of this admin is not just so you have a firm and easily digestible grasp of your own body of work, but it means that gallery people can then easily add that info to their own systems easily. I’ve had artists hand me ten paintings, and a post-it with the titles of seven of them. Now I have to spend my day chasing the rest of that information.

Find your niche. Do you paint landscapes? That’s great, I wish I could paint landscapes. Find what it is about your landscapes that makes them YOURS. What sets them apart from any other generic painting. This could be your colour palette, it could be that there’s always a dandelion, it could be that you focus on one particular part of the country, it could be that you have extraordinarily thick paint strokes. You’ll want to get to a point where, for example, if someone sees your work in one place, then again in another place, they’ll be able to say ‘oh, that’s that person who does those ______ landscapes!’ You’ve got to refine your work, meaning find what makes it yours. This is what, on paper (or canvas), practising art at university is for.

Go to Things. Galleries have open evenings, museums have exhibitions, some cafes have evening drawing clubs, some pubs have drink-n-draws, some art supply shops have clubs. Go to things. Even if you’ve been at work all day, it can be a wonderful thing to just go to these events. Talk to the people, listen to your contemporaries, and remember that when we lift each other up, we all rise. Support other artists, if not financially, then as a friend, colleague, fellow artist. Through these events, you’ll hear about other events, other things other artists are doing.

Apply to everything. Expect some places to say no. Expect some places to say nothing at all. Refine your ‘elevator pitch’. You need a one or two paragraph email, and some select images of your work. Refine this, and send it out into the world. It needs to be quick and easy to take in all the information. If a gallery is receiving 50 applications a week, they’ll look at the pictures first. Don’t overexplain.

Develop a thick skin. People, especially the public, can be harsh. When it’s face-to-face, there’s a Britishness to things where people will let you down gently. But when the public see things, they’ll often just let their unfiltered opinions fly out. Some of these are brutal. There have been times in the gallery where someone’s looked at my favourite painting that year, and have said “well that’s f**king ugly.” without giving it more than a 4 second look.