Excerpt from "Starving" to Successful

Jason Horejs' new book, "Starving" to Successful | The Artist's Guide to Getting into Galleries and Selling More Art was written to help artist approach galleries in an organized, systematic and professional way. The book is newly published and here is an excerpt:

Mistake #1: Presenting an inconsistent body of work.

Artists generally love their freedom. They want to experiment. They love a challenge. They crave variety. All good things, except when you are presenting your work to a gallery.

The work you present to a gallery needs to be unified. It doesn't need to be repetitive or formulaic, but it must present you as a consistent artist with a clear vision.

Often I feel I am looking at the work of multiple artists as I review a single portfolio. To avoid this problem you need to find focus in your work.

If you work in several media and a variety of styles, focus on just one for the next 6-12 months. Create a body of work that feels like a "series". Once you have 20-25 gallery-ready pieces in this series, you will be ready to approach a gallery.

You can further create consistency by presenting the work in a consistent way. Use similar frames for paintings and photographs, similar bases for sculpture, similar settings for artistic jewelry. Make it very clear all of the work is by the same artist.

If you simply can't rein your style in, consider creating multiple portfolios, one for each style.

Don't confuse the galleries you approach with multiple styles in your portfolio.



Good advice; I ordered his book.

Art Marketing Guide

I have been reading Jason Horejs' blogs and newsletters about art marketing.

Impressed with the information I have been receiving, I decided to purchase his new book, "Starving" to Successful.

This book is the culmination of his work over the last 18 months as he has endeavored to give artists an inside understanding of what it takes to make it in the art business as a gallery-represented artist. This book is based on his seventeen years in the art gallery business, the last eight as owner of Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. He also drawns from his interviews and surveys of career artists who have been successfully navigating the artist-gallery relationship for decades.

"Starving" to Successful was written to give an artist a comprehensive understanding of the gallery business, and a systematic way to approach galleries.

The book will advise you how to focus your efforts to create a body of marketable, gallery-ready work, how to organize your art, how to make a powerful portfolio, how to choose the best art markets to approach, and, most importantly, what the best approach is to get into galleries. The book will also give you myriad insights into the business to help you fine-tune every aspect of your art career.

The book includes samples of successful artist statements, artist biographies, and resumes, analyzes websites to help you fine-tune yours, and gives you actionable, concrete steps to take to grow your art career.

Purchase your copy.