Galleries often say to an artist, “I want to see a body of work from you.” By this they mean a few things: they want to see a consistent subject matter theme, they want to see visual consistency, and they want to sense that the artist has gone deep and done something meaningful. Their clear desires translate into three equally clear tips: 1. You want to be able to articulate for yourself your subject matter theme. It isn’t necessary to articulate it in a lot of words: your...
Read MoreOne New Connection
Let’s say that you want to make one new connection in the service of your career. Maybe it’s with a new gallery owner in town. What’s the best approach, given how anxious the whole thing may make you feel? Here’s a simple, 5-step process for making that connection: 1. Know how to speak about yourself, about your strengths, and about your assets. You need to create two or three strong sentences that communicate what it is you do (say, that you are an abstract painter...
Read MoreLate Deciding
I was chatting with an exceptionally creative person who introduced me to the phrase “late deciding.” He said of himself that he liked not to rush the “not knowing” part of creating and, rather than coming to conclusions prematurely so as to shut down the experience of anxiety, he preferred to “hang out” with the anxiety, allow himself all the time it took to actually know, and only then make the requisite creative decisions. He recognized what a strain this put on those...
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