“A brilliant first one man show, a sell out, but what next?”

                           “A brilliant first one man show, a sell out, but what next?”

I decided to tell this true story as it will show how Artists sometimes really do not understand what they need to do to grow their Art business and build life long collectors. I just had a fine young Artist do a one man show at the Gallery, unfortunately for him it was not a financial success, he was very disappointed and it reminded me about this Artist that I had known years before.

This Artist I had known years ago was quite a talented young man, his paintings were good, not outstanding but very saleable. I got involved after this happened as he needed some direction and advice.

He had a large group of friends and his partner was able him help him and together they put on his first one man show, this story takes place in Australia.

They scheduled the exhibition at a large rent the space Gallery and his partner, because he was well connected was able to get a large group of friends and business acquaintances to the opening.

It was an extremely successful opening. His family, friends, supporters and his partners business acquaintances all bought paintings and this young Artist felt that he had arrived, he had a sell out show. The press said nice things about his paintings and over a few weeks he did some interviews and he was feeling very confident.

They were both so happy with the show that his partner said that they would do it again next year.

The young Artist painted a new one man show over the next year and they put on an even bigger and better opening and invited all their family, friends and business acquaintances again to the opening. They expected that this show would also be a sell out and the press were invited, everyone expected great things.

Unfortunately this time he sold two paintings and the show was a financial failure.

The young Artist was devastated, he said it was so unfair after all the work and time he had put into the show and the cost of putting it on, there were no interviews and family and friends felt sorry for him

Unfortunately he was back where he had started and now he had to kick start his career all over again before it had even started.

Why tell you all this?

Family, friends and business acquaintances can not be relied on to buy your paintings, yes they will come and support you and may buy a painting at the beginning of your career but if they are not collectors then that’s all they will buy or if you are very lucky they may buy another one or two.

This young Artist made the mistake of thinking that if his family and friends bought once, that they would buy again and continue to do so but this rarely happens.

What did this young Artist do wrong?

After his first initial success he should have looked for a Gallery to represent him where he could get his art before serious collectors. Collectors who would begin to buy the Artist and follow his career and continue to buy.

He was never going to earn a living from his art, relying on his family and friends and after the first show, instead of working towards another one man show, he should have spent time selling himself, marketing his work in the art world, not locked away in the rent our space world.

What should he have done?

As I said, look for a good commercial Gallery to represent him, he had a good first show and good sales and there was very good press reports, these would have got him interviews with good Galleries. He had their attention.

He should have joined some like minded Artist groups and been involved in group shows getting himself before strangers who may like his work and buy and become his collectors.

Donate a painting to charity where his name will be published and again get before collectors who often support charity events.

This young Artist needed to use his initial success to build his future career not be looked away painting another show that just would not fly.

There is no easy way to the top of the Art World, it is hard work.

Yes you need talent, but you will also need a ton of self belief and you will need to work harder that everyone else and never give up and you need to be noticed, get attention.

Obscurity is death to Artists.

This young Artist was noticed, he got attention but he was never able to capitalise on the first success and after the second exhibition all his good press was forgotten.

You are only as good as your last exhibition.

You will need to market yourself and your paintings on social media and get peoples attention especially collectors.

Many Artist I advise get upset when I tell them that, but the truth is if the collector sees you and likes you, then they will like your work, it is just human nature and the collector will want to be your friend. Not go out to dinner with you but every time he sees you he expects you to talk to him, be friendly and tell him all you are doing with your art. Collectors love to connect, to be close to their Artists, to be in the know. They are spending their hard earned money on you so give back it pays off in the long haul.

Lastly as an Artist, play the long game, its not about selling a painting to a person, its about selling paintings for a life time to many people.

Connect, get attention, build relationships, treat your collectors like friends and always give a little more than expected to your Collector, add value.

I am not talking about discounts, a subject I want to address, but a small sketch, just a little thought, it builds relationships.

To let you know, this young man never did recover, the first show was so easy and he could never accept that he would have to work very hard to build an Art career. By the time I got involved he had lost interest in painting, he was not able to forgive people for not supporting him, especially his family and friends and he was angry at his ex partner, who was not prepared to fund a third exhibition.

He stopped painting and started a small coffee shop.

“Many are called but few are chosen.”