Art by Marianne Monto

Originally published 5th of March 2023

Lately I have been quite focused on my new job, creating new paintings, trying to not be a human asshole… and have completely neglected this blog, finding venues to exhibit my artistic endeavors and to try to figure social media out. So, that’s not good. Well, some good (as my near and dear would agree) and nothing bad per se, but not things that would actually take my career as an artist forward. To be completely honest, my husband has presented me more leads in the last month than I have looked up myself.

I think it boils down to a few key elements. It’s not enough that I paint, I actually have to show those paintings to other people. And as I have no desire to become Instagram famous, but to have people actually willing to buy my work I need to figure the correct avenue to that. Is Instagram a good tool? Sure, to reach many people and showing off your work/work in progress. I find it interesting to see how other people build their drawings. Am I interested in posting constantly to stories, reels and feed? Eh, not really. I have no desire to be an influencer and keeping your Insta constantly on top of the game is a full time job. I think I would quite soon reach the spot where I have nothing real to post.

So, a more traditional approach. I need to get my paintings shown either in a gallery or in a sort of public space. Libraries, cafes, I don’t know, places where people will see the art as a kind of side effect. Then, the questions. 

Do I have enough pieces (and unpresented pieces) for my own exhibition? If I do (or can create) should I rent a gallery or try to find a space that can display my work without fee? If gallery, then how to choose? Vanity gallery doesn’t seem like a good choice, so it should be a space that has a high flow of people organically. For the space without fee, if it’s gallery there will be provision going to the seller (as it should) and competition for the space is steep. I don’t even know how it works with cafes. I need to ask around.

Should I just try to get my work to group exhibitions? Group exhibition has the difficulty, that even if your piece is amazing it might not sit well with other work on exhibition and is left out. Some group exhibitions have signing in fees (some quite steep!) with no guarantee that you even get your piece accepted. Some group exhibitions are for some specific group, that you need to first be accepted to before you can enroll. Some are quite straightforward, some have a list of demands as long as your arm.

I know, I know, I need to probably do combination of *everything*. I need to start to look where I could have my first solo show, try to find a presentation, try to enroll in group shows and try to enroll in some groups. Figuring the social media out… I think it will stay on the back burner. I can try to add stories every now and then. And another thing, I need to figure out if I can add a comment section on the blog. No idea if it’s possible on this platform.