Graeme Smith

Agents Graeme Smith

Do you have a long term vision about your career?Most artists tend to focus on an individual painting. An exhibition is a collection of their paintings. But what if the focus is on the exhibition, as one of a series of exhibitions?Then there's a different mind-set. A career can be an ongoing stream of exhibitions. You can generate this income stream if you know what to do. A successful artist should have this knowledge. But even if you do you might not have the available time!You don't need to do it but someone does!A key element is people willing to buy your work. You need sales and marketing a major gallery provides its main artists. This is essential BUT someone else can do it. There's a lot of day to day stuff that needs doing in any profession. An artist is no different and the more successful you are the more there is. Meet people, phone calls, enter competitions, framing, finances, etc. So where do you get the time from?You'll have to do all this yourself initially. Eventually you need an agent and you'll know exactly why you want them. Instead of the agent telling you what they want. Is there a magic bullet?There is NO way art business becomes a successful career overnight. You just can't skip the fundamental steps needed for a solid business. Well, I have some news for you which should be encouraging. It IS possible to build a money-making art career without breaking the bank. But you've got to do things right the first time!In terms of finding your own agent that is the focus of this Focus. Then your career path will open up for you. But there ARE wrong ways. If you try to cut corners, it means 10 times the work in the long run. So you've got to be patient!Even if you do things right, you can't do them all concurrently. That means there is no short cut to success.