How Much For Your Artist?

Lately I've received a lot of emails from strangers. They begin by telling me they are "fellow artists", then, on that tenuous basis, they ask me to help them market and sell their work. I've been trying to figure out why I've found these requests so offensive, especially as I am not exactly a shrinking violet when it comes to self-promotion and I often speak frankly in public about my (mis)adventures in the so-called business-side of art.

Then it clicked. There's nothing in their emails that is actually about art, theirs or mine, and they imply that my focus is more on marketing and sales than creativity and plain old hard work.

Well, fuck 'em. I make art not only because of a passionate desire to communicate but also a jittery compulsion to make real what resides only in my imagination. And when I have a body of work that is ready to be viewed, finding an audience for it is sure as hell very different to launching a healthier breakfast cereal or a gentler washing-up liquid. There is no demographic research you can (or should) do to identify a consumer niche. Whatever some people think (including an increasing number of critics and curators) it is not about brand development and key selling propositions. Yes, I 've been guilty of being identified with this sort of attitude – mea culpa! – but now I know better. So should you.