RE: Dealing With the "Business End" of Being an Artist
hi @reddragonfly. Congratulations on your trending article. I am an artist, so I appreciated your perspective as small gallery owners. I was thinking as I was writing, how relevant your business advice is to any market, whether an online service or product. There is basic human savvy that a lot of us missed as we have progressed in the world. Really checking out what others around you are seeing and wanting is so important. One idea really stuck out, when you suggested that the artist look to see if there is a match between what is already on the walls, and what their own work is.
Having the perspective that it is all about "me, me, me" whether in shopworn artwork, or oblivion to what the gallery is showing is an interesting counterpoint, to the fact that most artists also have to focus on me, me, me, in order to do their art. Oh, what complex beings, we humans are.
@wecanbesublime, thanks for your thoughtful comment! It is, indeed, a strange business.
This post was in part inspired by an art teacher who brought her 12 students to the gallery on a "field trip" in hopes that they would learn some of the things "they don't teach in school." These were 17-year old high school students, and it was really interesting to have a 30-minute "hands on" lesson with them... then they went down the hallway to a neighboring gallery/framing shop to repeat the process. According to the teacher, they came away with some "real life skills" that would help them later... even if only a couple of things stuck with them.
On the whole, I feel it's a good thing for artists to be a bit "me, me, me" because that's how true original creativity comes about... but it's equally important to wrap some "global context" around that "me, me, me" once the work is finished.