Knowing Your Target Audience
Updated: Sep 6, 2019
While I work on producing quality art pieces and working social media, marketing, the website, art shows, art competitions, etc. I have to maintain a sense of where I want to go with all of this. I personally have decided to pursue the fine art route, redirecting my art from realism to that of the abstract being that galleries want contemporary art. I was turned away by a fine art gallery owner stating that my art was not contemporary enough. I was devastated after that pronouncement because my art at that time reflected my favorite genre. My art at that time were depictions of where I would rather be. They were peaceful places of tumbling waterfalls deep in a woodland area inhabited by fairies who were children of the forest. But given the audience I wanted to reach and my artistic goals of being a fine art artist featured in galleries, I needed to reconsider. My art has evolved to geometric shapes intersecting with lines or tubing. I am still in the process of studying the relationship between these shapes within the visual field.
I learned that it is important to create a body of work with a common thread but different in it's own special way. Much like a developing research project. I still alternate doing my favorite fairies, waterfalls and trees with that of the contemporary art pieces. This will be my reward after completing a challenging art concept piece. After reaching my goal of completing 10 contemporary pieces of art, I plan to put in proposals for solo exhibitions to local galleries. These galleries are my target audience. These 10 related art pieces will be my body of work.
My art business advice is that it's very important to decide who will be your target audience. It is imperative to understand and cater to this audience. I strongly advise that you need a stunning website portfolio. Exposure is the ultimate goal so try everything from art competitions, art shows, festivals, ad campaigns, networking and knocking on doors. Just as important you need to work the social media as passionately as doing your art. This is exposure at it's finest. This is where potential buyers and lovers of your art will get to know you, given that no one else can replicate the insight, the inspiration, the motivation and the understanding of your art. You alone can relay and respond to your artistic statement.
Start a blog on your website, something I have just started to do, after getting valuable advice that here is where people can get to know you, ask questions and interact. Where you can lighten the load is to delegate the marketing, sales, the taxes to people familiar with the business end. For us starving artists (lol), enlist family and friends to help with the non-artistic dry stuff where ever you can. Just remember...don't give up because it might just be a matter of searching for your niche or just finding the right audience. As they say "art is in the eye of the beholder". So go get your art out there and find "your people"!
Would you like more #art #business advice? Follow my art #blog for more #career advice.
