The art world is an Eco-system that relies heavily in face-to-face interactions. Art exhibitions, fair, studio visits are all off the table. With this in mind it’s crucial for artists to start transitioning a greater part of their activity online. If you are not selling your art online, or don’t have your website up to date or a cleat social media strategy, these are gonna be challenging times to your art career.
Luckily there is time to adjust, use these tools to improve and streamline the digitization of your art career.
Artist Statement
An introduction letter will be super important towards taking your art career online, you might start interacting with a lot of new people online now, and they might not be familiar with you or your art so it’s very important to have a clear text stating the intention behind your art and introducing yourself as an artist. Make this text easily accesible on your site and social media.
Maybe you can also do the artist statement of a video format.
Begin with a short introduction, basically explaining who you are, what you do, and where you do it. Finish off with a quick explanation of your work. In the second part, you should talk a little bit about your story. It’s important to share a bit about yourself and what influences your art, creating an emotional connection with the viewer, who that way will be more likely to remember you.
Then you should talk all about your art career. List your most important exhibitions, residencies, studies, and prizes. Remember that this is your artist’s statement, not your cv. So focus on your highlights. After, it’s time to close the statement with the golden key. It’s time to finish on a high note, talking a little bit about your hopes and dreams for the future of your art career.
Website
There is no excuse for having a website. It’s a crucial part of your online strategy. It’s the digital version of your artist studio. It’s where you can quickly send people interested in knowing more about your art. It gives your audience a possibility of knowing a bit more about your story, browsing artworks for sale or getting in touch.
Having a professional website is a key indicator that you are a professional, nobody will take you seriously if you don’t take your own career seriously and having your online presence organized and clear displays that.
Social Media
Being on social media can no longer be an option for a professional artist. It’s crucial to take these platforms as professional tools and treat your presence accordingly, it’s a unique glimpse into your art practice and a valuable tool to connect with your audience.
Your social media should focus primarily on your work and your career, use it as a tool to share your art with the world. Focus your content around your art and avoid too many ‘personal’ posts. Show your work in context, hanging in real rooms, clearly showing to your audience how that art piece would look in their house.
Learn to make your social media presence impactful by constantly learning from other accounts. Research and follow artists with amazing profiles and investigate what they post, copy what you think works!
@anne_bengard_art
Anne works as a painter and her profile shows you a lot about her process, latest works and upcoming exhibitions.
@irenecross
Irene is a photographer and video artist, on her Instagram she show the backstage of her photo shootings as well as personal insight about her artwork.
@stephan.vankuyk
Berlin based art consultant and dealer, showing the backstage of the exhibitions, sharing new artists and advice on growing your career. (It’s also, me)
Email List
Email is the default communication in the business world, the kind of people that you want buying your art are checking their email on a daily basis, several times a day to be real.
Investing time into establishing an email marketing strategy allows you to have a one on one conversations with these would-be collectors, allowing you to share all the background and answer all the questions they might have about you and your art, it’s all about establishing a meaningful connection.
This important for both new collectors as well as maintaining an ongoing conversation with your past collectors, they would love to hear about new developments in your career, as well as new artworks available,
With this in mind, it’s time to start collecting emails.
Online art Galleries
You are going to need a place to sell your art, right? Teaming up with an existing platform is a great way to start since they already have an audience eager to buy art! These platforms are totally online, allowing you to sell directly from your studio or home. Connecting artists to art lovers all across the globe.
Fine art America
Fine Art America have transformed the online art industry with the largest digital art marketplace in the world. Their global audience, easy setup and print-on-demand technology make it a mouthwatering resource for any artist. Throw in career-accelerating tools — from newsletter design and branded web stores — and the offer is irresistible.
No surprise then that they’re home to hundreds of thousands of artists — selling anything from wall art and home decor to apparel and fine paintings. And their buyers are treated to a ready-to-hang product manufactured at one of FAA’s trusted plants and a 30-day money-back guarantee.Link
IdeelArt
IdeelArt is a curated online gallery offering artworks by some of the greatest abstract artists in the world, available for you to buy securely in just a few clicks. Their 1500+ artworks are original, signed, delivered directly from the artist studio and come with a secured certificate of authenticity issued by their partner Tagsmart. Link
OnlineGallery.art
A fast-growing online art gallery based in the Netherlands, internationally known for its rich art culture, prominent design and expertise. It displays a beautiful selection of art in various price ranges. For a very small fee (from € 1.95 per month) artists may exhibit an art selection of their choice, with the possibility to communicate directly with art lovers. A larger profile can be built with links to the artist’s own website. When work gets sold, the artist receives 100% of the amount paid. OnlineGallery.Art also shares news on its website about the artists and their exhibitions. Link
VSUAL
VSUAL is the best platform dedicated solely to selling art prints online because it’s free, makes selling effortless for artists, and offers buyers a wide range of print sizes and framing options. VSUAL can offer its premium prints due to its dedication to materials and craftsmanship: every print is made with archival ink, printed on premium paper, and framed with high-quality materials.
Two major selling points for VSUAL are that it’s free and easy for artists to get started. Simply apply for a shop, upload your work, and choose the markup you want to charge. VSUAL handles the rest. Because VSUAL handles printing, framing, and fulfilment, artists don’t need to carry any inventory or spend time packing and shipping their work.
Link
Community
Now that your career is gonna be majorly online you’ll need to find an online community to network and your share insights, your struggles and get feedback on new artworks. Usually, we would be connected with our local art scene, using exhibitions, openings, and other art events as opportunities to catch-up with your art-gang, but with the limitations on social gatherings, it’s important to keep on networking with fellow artists even on a remote format, set a video chat to discuss a specific art or exhibition, make a video tour of your studio, host a live stream to talk about your art! Get Creative.
To help you mitigate with the distances we created a network exclusively for artists.