Often, when I’m discussing biographies, I hear some variation of the question:

“Should I include negative or depressing details of my life in my biography?”

This is a thorny issue, and I would like to spend a few minutes today discussing it and, hopefully, provide some guidance that will help you decide how to handle unpleasant details in your biography.

First, let’s stipulate that many artists have lead extremely challenging lives. Many of you have overcome incredibly adverse circumstances or terrifying events to become the artists that you are today. Like it or not, those challenges have likely had a huge impact on your life and have helped shape who you are and your outlook on life. To a certain extent, your followers can’t truly understand you without understanding those events. However, sharing your difficult background should be done with care – you wouldn’t want to shock or depress a customer to the point that they no longer feel like buying your work.

The main purpose of your biography is to help people make a connection to you, to help them understand where your art comes from, and to help them move toward a purchase. With that in mind, if you are going to include references to difficult life experiences, you should strive to do so in a way that emphasizes not the problem, but rather the amazing way you overcame it and went on to become the amazing artist you are today.

Suggestions:

1. Don’t go into too much detail. Talking about the specifics of your challenge might be too much for a reader to handle.
2. Avoid shocking language. Words like “abuse”, “assault”, “murder” etc. are all very heavy, challenging words. While it may be good to provide some insight into your life, shocking words have the power to completely transform a person’s perspective and thought process about you and your work.
3. Keep the general narrative positive. While talking about your past can be powerful, focusing on the process you used to overcome your challenges will inspire. Share how the pain of your life has made your work better.

And finally,

All of your life experiences belong to you, and no one can force you to share what you don’t wish to. If a life experience is just too raw, distressful or embarrassing, or if you just aren’t ready to face the pain, you should feel no obligation to do share. I know of many artists who have chosen to gloss over or forget about incredibly difficult experiences. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing your life with the world – don’t. Focus instead on other aspects of your life that are positive.

Sample Biography

Read the biography we helped Carolee Clark create to get ideas of the types of details and formatting we suggest for your artist’s biography. Note that Carolee’s bio does not reference negative life experiences – this is just a sample to show you how useful a biography might be for you.

What do you Think?

Have you shared your difficult life experiences in your biography? Why or why not? How has your biography helped you build better relationships with clients and make more sales?

Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

The first comes from Justin S.

I am looking to submit to mid to high end galleries but want to make sure I do it in a correct way. I have a new art technique that I am using that has been a massive hit at all my shows. I have been submitting to several galleries but just cannot get them to respond. How can I catch their attention, and is it over the top to send them a small painting so they can really see the painting in person instead of from photos. As an artist I am surprised that they don’t respond as you would think they would love for an artist with great sales to come to them! Thank you!!

Great question Justin,  and I totally understand your frustration. It would, at the very least, be nice to hear one way or the other; there’s nothing worse that not knowing.

Let me deal with several components of your question. First, there could be several reasons you’re not hearing back from the galleries you submit to. Some galleries are simply too busy to respond to every inquiry they receive from artists. At Xanadu, we try and give a response and feedback to every submission, but we receive dozens every week. Our number one priority is following up with our buyers to close sales, and this sometimes means that responding to all of the artist submissions we receive can get backlogged. I suspect that some galleries in the same scenario simply don’t respond to the emails at all.

You are right that galleries are constantly looking for the next artist that is going to sell well, so with these two factors in mind, what can you do to increase your odds of success? I would suggest three things:

1. When possible, submit your work to the gallery in person. If there are galleries in your local area, a personal visit to the gallery to present your portfolio is going to be far more effective than an email. It may not be possible to visit out-of-town galleries in person, but take advantage of any opportunities you have to present your work in person. If you have several pieces along with you (in the car, for example) you may get the opportunity to show the work to the gallery owner, allowing him/her to see what is unique about your work.
2. Increase the number of submissions you are making. Getting gallery representation is a numbers game – in order to reach the galleries that are interested and that are going to have time to look at your submission, you’ve got to approach a lot of galleries. You mentioned that you have submitted to several galleries, and this is simply not going to be sufficient. I would recommend submitting your work to  20-40 galleries if you are approaching them in person, and 60-100 galleries by email to get a good start. This is going to take some time and effort on your part, but by the simple law of averages, your chances of generating interest in your work increase by increasing the exposure you are giving your portfolio.
3. Follow-up. As I mentioned above, many galleries don’t have time to respond to every submission, but if you are a little bit persistent and follow up, you increase your odds of getting a response, either positive or negative. It’s a careful balancing act to not appear pushy – you wouldn’t want to send an email every day – but it would be appropriate to send a follow up email after 10 days, and another 10 days later if you still haven’t received a response.

With these numbers and follow up suggestions, it’s not going to be practical for you to send out paintings to all of the galleries you are going to submit to by email. You should also keep in mind that by shipping a painting to a gallery, you are asking them to do extra work to return the painting if they are not interested, and some galleries aren’t going to take kindly to that.

There are obviously many other considerations in submitting your work to a gallery for representation – portfolio format, consistency and quality of work, presentation, and pricing, to name just a few, but I’ve covered these topics in other posts and in my book. Know though, that it is the artists who are persistent and prepared that ultimately are able to break through the noise and build relationships with galleries.

What Have you Done to Get Attention from Galleries?

Have you had success getting your work noticed by galleries? What did you do that proved effective? What hasn’t worked? Share your experience and thoughts in the comments below.

I was wondering if I could get your opinion on having an artist name.

Do you think it’s a bad business move to give yourself an artist name? If when you may concerned or want to protect your private life from your business life would that be a sufficient reason to have an artist name?

I was wondering what your thoughts were?

–Victoria

Many artists have asked  variations of this same question. I’ve worked with artists who use their real names, along with a number of artists who have adopted pseudonyms. It’s quite common for actors and authors to change their names.

First, let’s explore the possible reasons that might lead you to change your name:

1. As the artist above mentions, you might want to use a different name in order to protect your privacy.
2. Some artists change their name because their birth name doesn’t have an artistic ring to it. Artists are a creative lot, but that doesn’t mean that their parent’s were particularly creative in the naming department.
3. Artists with common names may choose to change their name to avoid having their work confused with other artists of the same name. This has become more important with the advent of the internet. If your name is Bob Smith, any hope you have of getting website traffic from Google searches is pretty slim.
4. Some artists have changed their names to fit better into a new culture or language. Many artist immigrants adapted their birth names when they came to the US.  Mark Rothko was born Marcus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz, for example.
5. Perhaps you just want to reinvent yourself.

These are all valid reasons, but you should weigh very carefully the costs and disadvantages of using a pseudonym. These could include:

1. Building fame and notoriety around a pseudonym commits you to using the artist name forever. It’s hard enough to build name recognition once – having to do it twice if you eventually decide to go back to your birth name
2. Confusion. If you continue to use your real name with family and friends, you are inevitably going to run into some confusion. I’ve had people come into the gallery and ask to see an artist’s work. They were dismayed when I informed them that I didn’t represent that particular artist. Only later did I realize they were looking for the work of one of my artist who uses and artist’s name.
3. Paperwork. There’s a fair amount of paperwork involved in changing your name if you want to legally have a new name, and if you don’t, you have to create paperwork with your bank to create a DBA account.

Many artists have overlooked these problems and gone ahead and changed their artists name and have built successful careers using a new name. It’s not a decision to be made lightly – your name is your brand when you are an artist. If you are convinced that your given name just doesn’t cut it, however, a name change may be just the right strategy.

What do you think?

Have you every considered changing your artist name? What ultimately helped you decide what to do? Are there other factors that I’ve failed to consider above? Please share your thoughts and comments below.

While I agree that the market is changing, and I believe that artists should pursue every opportunity to find new ways to market their work, I would like to share a few signs that art galleries still matter and demonstrate several ways that art galleries remain vital in helping artists build their careers.

For Many Collectors, Art Buying is About the Experience

Perhaps one of the most important roles a gallery still fills is it’s ability to provide art buyers with a top-notch buying experience. Many of the sales I make through Xanadu Gallery are to people who are on vacation, or to buyers who have purchased a second home in Arizona to escape cold winters. These buyers love the experience of walking through galleries and the serendipity of finding a piece of artwork that speaks to them.

Art shows and festivals can provide buyers with a great experience and have the added benefit of allowing the collector to meet the artist, but most shows can’t provide the same kind of high-end retail environment that an art gallery does. Galleries are able to control the art viewing environment – the temperature and the lighting, for example. Creating an atmosphere of luxury, galleries are often able to command higher prices than shows and festivals for the work they sell.

Seeing the Work in Person Still Matters (At least sometimes)

I want to be very clear that seeing the artwork in person is not important in every sale – we are selling more and more artwork either online or through our Art Catalogue to collectors who have never seen the work in person. I firmly believe that a larger and larger percentage of art sales is going to occur online. That said, there is some artwork that has to be seen and touched to be understood, and there are some buyers who want to see the work before they buy it. There are ways to work around this – shipping art to a client on approval, for example – but online selling is still somewhat hampered by the disconnect of seeing work reduced down to pixels.

From a market perspective, these are two of the main reasons galleries still matter to buyers, but how do galleries help an artist sell more work and build a successful career? I would like to share seven ways galleries will help you build your art business.

How Galleries Help you Sell More Art

Exposure

I’ll begin with what I feel is the most compelling and important arguments: exposure. While an independent artist can set up a website, do open studio tours, and participate in art shows and festivals, all of which have the potential to put your work in front of potential buyers, these efforts simply can’t match the exposure you can gain by having your work shown and sold in a gallery.

Unlike a show or studio tour, a gallery is open year round. Over the course of a year my gallery, for example, will be visited by thousands and thousands of potential buyers. This consistent stream of viewers gives an artist the best chance at reaching his or her audience and making sales. The art business, just like any other business, is a numbers game. While there are many things you can do to target potential buyers and increase your chances for success, in the end, you’ve got to have eyeballs on your work in order to reach those who are going to feel passionate enough about the work to pull out their credit card and make a purchase.

Some argue that your website gives you exposure to a vast potential audience online. This is true, but if you are tracking your traffic and online sales, you know how difficult it is to get visitors to your site, let alone convince those visitors to buy.

I will concede that you could start to reach a broad audience by participating in a large number of art festivals and shows – in fact you might even be able to reach a larger number of people than you could through galleries, but this leads us to the next factor, efficiency.

Efficiency

Simply put, every minute you spend on self-promotion and shows is a minute that you are not spending in the studio. If you have participated in open studios or weekend art festivals, you know that tremendous preparation and effort is required in order to make the events a success. Unfortunately, all that effort is no guarantee of sales at any particular event.

You might argue that you have plenty of time to participate in art events because you have plenty of artwork and don’t need to be spending more time in the studio. I would encourage you to stop and think about what that means though; if you have plenty of inventory and plenty of time on your hands, you simply aren’t selling enough.

The artists that I show in my gallery would have a hard time participating in  a lot of shows or studio tours because, quite simply,  they are too busy creating to keep their galleries in inventory.

By working with a gallery, you will be able to focus on producing work while the gallery focuses on producing sales – each of you is able to do what you do best.

Moreover, very few artists are both creative and good at sales. Galleries are staffed by professionals who spend all day long, every day working on the sale of artwork. They are going to be better at moving a customer to the close than you are, and they are going to be better able to focus their efforts on following up with customers to close the sale.

The Multiplicative Effect

As an artist doing self-promotion, you are limited in the number of events you can participate in and the marketing efforts you can put forward because there is only one of you. As you expand your representation, you can show in galleries across the country (or the globe!). Now the effort you put into finding galleries begins to pay off in a big way. Each additional gallery now multiplies your exposure.

Compare this with trying to increase your income by participating in more shows or studio events. The work and effort you put into each event is only as long-lasting as the event itself.

Stability

By expanding your reach through galleries, and especially if you are able to secure representation in a number of galleries in a variety of geographic markets, you will be able to create a level of stability in your cash flow.

If you are relying solely on your own marketing efforts and sales slow-down, it can have a devastating impact on your finances. By diversifying your market, you will find that sales will begin to become more stable and reliable. Sure, one gallery may experience a period of slower sales, but often another gallery will then kick into gear, have a strong sales period, and make up for the dip in the first gallery.

The economic downturn of 2008 showed that no one is immune to a precipitous crash in the economy, but in my experience, those artists who were showing in a variety of galleries (as well as doing some direct marketing) were the ones who fared the storm best.

Reputation

Many artists feel that gallery representation helps establish them as more legitimate in the eyes of collectors. Collectors will ask you if you show in galleries. While the quality of your work should speak for itself, the reality is that many collectors see gallery representation as a stamp of legitimacy. Showing with good galleries will enhance your resume and reputation making it easier to join professional art societies and get into juried shows.

Relationships

Often galleries, especially those that have been long-established in their community, will have built relationships with people in the community that can be important to your career. Museum curators, arts writers, show organizers, publishers and other gallery owners all spend time in galleries. Your galleries can become great advocates for you as they work to promote you and your work.

Display

Finally, art galleries remain one of the best venues to see your art at its very best. We had a show this last season and as the show was opening, the featured artist said, “it’s so awesome to see the art all together like this!” Sure, he had seen the art in his studio, but until it was all hung together in the gallery, he hadn’t been able to get the full impact of the body of work. Galleries spend a lot of money getting their space and the lighting just right, and they put a lot of effort into figuring out the perfect display for the work. Short of building your own gallery, or getting a museum show, you won’t ever see your art in quite this way, and neither will your collectors.

A gallery display is one thing that a website simply can’t replicate.

Galleries Should Remain a Part of Your Marketing Strategy

The internet and the ability to sell direct to customers has made it easier than ever before for an artist to take control of her own career. There are more marketing opportunities available to artists than there have ever been. Some see these alternative marketing avenues as a sign of the impending demise of the gallery business. I agree that there is certainly a lot of competitive pressure on galleries, but I believe that galleries will remain an important part of the art market for the for years to come.

Over the last twenty years, I have had the opportunity to get to know hundreds of artists and have been able to observe what these artists are doing build successful careers. It is just as true today as it was twenty years ago: the most successful artists are those who are showing in multiple galleries.

I encourage you to continue building your market, doing shows and events, and maintaining your website. There’s no reason you can’t work to build a successful career by marketing your work on multiple fronts.

It can be difficult to find good gallery representation, and over the last few years, as the gallery market has shrunk, it has become even more competitive. I would argue, however,  that anything worth doing is hard. Securing gallery representation requires preparation, research, and yes, hard work. But if you think about the work required to sell your art on your own you will find the time and effort required to find a good gallery is worth the investment.

Learn How to Get Your Work Into Galleries

If you would like to better understand how galleries work and prepare yourself to approach galleries in a professional manner, be sure and register for my upcoming online workshop by going to http://www.xanadugallery.com/Workshop/2014-Online/index.php

Registration is limited, so don’t wait – register today.

]]> http://www.reddotblog.com/wordpress/index.php/7-ways-art-galleries-can-help-you-build-a-successful-career/feed/ 14 http://www.reddotblog.com/wordpress/index.php/quick-poll-were-your-family-and-friends-encouraging-about-your-desire-to-become-an-artist/ http://www.reddotblog.com/wordpress/index.php/quick-poll-were-your-family-and-friends-encouraging-about-your-desire-to-become-an-artist/#comments Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:11:42 +0000 http://www.reddotblog.com/wordpress/?p=4793 I recently read an article about Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Records, Virgin Airlines and serial entrepreneur, where he talked about the reluctance many people feel when trying to decide whether to leave steady employment to begin a new business venture. Comments on the article included many references to the added challenge of having friends and family members who discouraged taking the risk of starting a new business.

When my wife Carrie and I decided to start Xanadu Gallery in 2001, we were very fortunate to have moral and financial support from family members. Their encouragement had a huge impact on our ability to get the gallery off the ground. Even more important, their ongoing support through the difficult early years and the recession that began in 2007 were crucial in helping us keep the business going.

Branson’s article got me thinking about the challenge it is for an artist to take the plunge and pursue art full time, and it made me wonder how big a factor family members and friends were in the decision making process. I’ve certainly heard stories of young artists being discouraged from pursuing art as a profession.

Which leads me to this week’s quick poll. Did the people closest to you, your family and friends, encourage or discourage your pursuit of art as a profession? Share your experiences or thoughts on the influence friends or family have had on your pursuit of your art – please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Can’t attend Live? The Workshop Will Be Recorded

If you have another engagement that will not allow you to attend the live broadcast, you can still register. After the workshop is over you will receive a link to the recording of the broadcast to watch later at your convenience. All registered attendees will receive a full video copy of the workshop as well as a pdf copy of the presentation slides.

During the Workshop, You Will Learn

• How to create a consistent  body of  gallery-ready work
• What you should do to present your work in a manner that will appeal to galleries
• How to price your work
• How to  organize your work and track your inventory
• How to best allocate your  marketing efforts and dollars with an eye toward getting into galleries
• How to build your resume
• How to pick the best markets for your work and how to find the galleries in those markets that would best suit your work
• How to confidently approach galleries and what to say when you meet the director or owner

Exclusive, New Content in this Workshop Includes:

and much more . . . Learn More and Register ]]> http://www.reddotblog.com/wordpress/index.php/live-online-starving-to-successful-workshop-october-18th/feed/ 2 http://www.reddotblog.com/wordpress/index.php/collective-wisdom-finding-your-bread-and-butter/ http://www.reddotblog.com/wordpress/index.php/collective-wisdom-finding-your-bread-and-butter/#comments Fri, 26 Sep 2014 21:27:31 +0000 http://www.reddotblog.com/wordpress/?p=4780 In speaking with a number of artists who have built financially successful careers, I have observed that many of them have stabilized and strengthened their art business by creating a line of work that sells quickly and consistently.  This line of work may or may not be in the artist’s main artistic focus, but, for whatever reason, this work seems to resonate with a wide range of buyers.

Sometimes this bread and butter work is smaller in size and sells at a lower price point. Sometimes there is something particularly bold or unusual about the work that captures the attention and imagination of potential buyers. I know several artists whose bread and butter artwork was born in experimentation; artwork that was created out of curiosity ends up becoming a big part of the artists’ regular income. Often the bread and butter work sells as quickly as the artist can produce it.

The popularity of “daily painter” sites points to the growing prevalence and appeal of this type of work.

Wall climbers by Ancizar Marin | We sell many of these wall climbers every month, often in sets of 3-5 or more.

While these creations may or may not be of  the same caliber as an artist’s regular work, there is real business value in having a line of work that generates more predictable cash flow. While it is always nice to have large sales of significant artwork, having smaller, frequent sales can help smooth over slower sales periods.

Finding Bread and Butter

So how do you discover your bread and butter? In looking at artists who are generating bread and butter sales, I’ve noticed that they do the following:

1. Experiment. Many artists discovered their bread and butter by creating something new – by doing something outside of their normal comfort zone.
2. Create something bold. Artwork that displays a bold use of color or strong textures – something that catches the eye, often sells quickly.
3. Create something quickly. Often, work that is created quickly will capture some frenetic energy that speaks to
4. Work in series. Many artists generate terrific sales by having a large series (sometimes hundreds of pieces) of similarly designed pieces.

The Risks of Bread and Butter Sales

I already know that some of my readers will bristle a bit at the idea of creating work purely from a commercial motivation. There are very real, and very valid arguments against creating this kind of easily saleable, broadly appealing

Darien Series by Linza | These bold 12″ x 12″ inch pieces really catch the eye. Clients often buy multiples for niches or halways.

artwork. Some artists see this kind of work as breaking with their artistic integrity. Others worry they will devalue their main body of work or dilute their artistic brand. I’m concerned that sometimes the quick sale can sate a buyer’s urge to purchase and prevent them from buying a more significant work.

While these are all valid concerns,  for artists who depend on art sales, these kind of sales can be the difference between making a living as an artist or not. Many artists have to support themselves with outside employment, and I would argue that given the choice between waiting tables or creating more commercial artwork, creating the quickly saleable artwork will do more to advance the artist’s career.

What is your Bread and Butter?

Have you created artwork that generates consistent and reliable sales? What’s different about that artwork from your normal work? How did you discover your bread and butter? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

If you are sharing your artwork online, you are likely doing so in order to achieve broader exposure for your work, build recognition for yourself and your work, and generate sales. In order to achieve these aims you want to show your art in its best possible light. Having looked at thousands (probably tens of thousands) of artwork images online, I would argue that the appeal of artwork is considerably diminished by including a watermark. Think about what a watermark accomplishes – it mars the artwork to an extent that a would-be thief wouldn’t want to steal it to reproduce it. That marring of the image will just as certainly diminish the appeal of the piece to a potential promoter or buyer of your work.

I would also argue that the decrease in appeal outweighs any protection you receive from a watermark. An important benefit of posting your art online is the increased exposure your work gets when it is shared.  Viewers are less likely to share artwork that is watermarked.

The likelihood of theft is pretty low. While there is a lot of intellectual property theft occurring online, it’s good to remember that there is an overwhelming amount of art online. The chances of your work showing up on t-shirts made in China is extremely low.

Typically, the images you share online are pretty low resolution. These images would result in poor reproductions.

There are legitimate legal reasons to assert your copyright when you post your work online, but a general notice on your website or a caption below your artwork will provide the same benefit without diminishing the appearance of your actual artwork.

If you have questions or concerns about your copyright and how to protect it, you should discuss the issues with an attorney who has experience protecting intellectual property. Last year I interviewed Steve Schlachman, a prominent IP attorney – watch that interview here.

What do you Think – Should Online Artwork be Watermarked?

Do you watermark the art you post online? Why, or why not? Do you have counter-arguments that I’ve failed to consider? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

 Quick Poll

Edit: Examples of Watermarks Added

Thanks to everyone for posting your opinions on this matter in the comments – you’ve made excellent points. Some of you have been kind enough to send examples of your watermarking to give some ideas of your approach.

Jillian Chilson
http://JillsFotoLuv.com

Matt Suess
http://www.mattsuess.com/

ren Kyle Ericson

John Haker

After four years of publishing, I’ve decided it’s time to refresh the appearance of the blog. Beginning today, you will notice a new layout and look on reddot’s pages. In redesigning the blog we wanted to make it more cohesive, easier to read and navigate, and more modern. I’m excited about the new look and I hope you will like it too.

As we transition to the new look, you are going to notice some rough edges. We’re working right now to update all of the post images to the new format. We’re working from the newest back to the oldest, so you will notice some of the older pages don’t have feature images – be patient with us, they’re coming.

Of course, the appearance of the blog is secondary to the content, and I’m looking forward to sharing more art market news and art business tips. Be sure to check back often and keep an eye out for new features and articles in the coming weeks.

What do you Think of the New Look?

Do you like the new look of the blog? How has reddotblog helped your art career? I’d love to hear your feedback – leave a comment below.