The 'Artrepreneur': Changing London's Art Market

5/17/2018

The Era of the Artrepreneur

Artists selling and engaging at one of our art fairs

Once upon a time, artists who wanted to pursue their artwork as a full-time career had limited options. Self-taught artists and recent art graduates could get a job, a very small percentage could be signed by a gallery right away, or they could continue on to further education. Even those who went on to complete a Masters degree would 9 times out of 10 be back to square one at how to begin the process of becoming a professional artist.

This meant that as little as 10 years ago, artists were very reliant on galleries, museums, curators and/or the elusive art patron or interior designer to elevate their artwork to the next level in the art market and to make the connection between artists and art buyers. These are still material routes to market in London but the path into the art market is expanding and evolving due to artists becoming more entrepreneurial at artist-led art fairs such as the New Artist Fair and Talented Art Fair.

It has become possible for artists to curate their own brand and business by engaging, meeting and selling directly to their own buyers. Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and art market platforms such as artfinder.com provide artists instant access to potential buyers online and artist-led art fairs such as New Artist Fair and Talented Art Fair then bring these two like-minded groups together in a friendly environment. These artist entrepreneurs, who we describe as ‘Artrepreneurs’, have the tools at their fingertips to create and mould their own brands and exhibiting at our fairs has proven to benefit them financially as well as by expanding their contact lists.

We now have numerous success stories of artists who started out exhibiting at the New Artist Fair and have gone on to be signed by top galleries, successfully sell out at Talented Art Fair and even become full-time artists who sustain their lifestyle through the profits of their art sales. Vincent Kamp at Clarendon Fine Art, Samantha Gare at Curious Duke, professional artist Mark Powell whose ebook is now available on iTunes, Sarah Fosse who will be having her first Solo Show at M1 Fine Art in June, and Sue Haskel who will be having her first Solo Show with the prestigious Plateaux Gallery in Mayfair in July this year are just a few artists who exhibited at the New Artist Fair at the beginning of their professional art careers. Over these seven years, many of our artists have been snapped up by top galleries and successfully exhibit at art fairs like the Affordable Art Fair (AAF) and top galleries worldwide, and thus are no longer able to call themselves a 'New' Artist but they were still wanting an accessible and affordable place to bring their artwork and buyers together. The Talented Art Fair gives these gallery-represented artists and any professional artists who sell and exhibit regularly in other art fairs/exhibitions an option to exhibit at a higher level artist-led art fair and further expand their art careers.

Digital Marketing Examples from Talented Art Fair Artrepreneurs

Digital Marketing Examples from New Art Fair Artrepreneurs

Art Galleries and Art Fairs like AAF are still extremely important parts of the Art World, but no longer do Artrepreneurs need to sit around waiting to be discovered by a gallery through the old means of communication, as they now have new options of investing in their own art careers. We have always marketed our events in Galleries Magazine and to all relevant gallery owners so that every decent gallery in the UK are aware of when our art fairs are taking place. We believe our art fairs are fast becoming the place in London for a gallery or art buyer to discover the next up-and-coming artists, whose artwork is only going to increase rapidly in value and popularity.

The opportunity is now there for artists to make their dreams a reality, and artists are proving that you can make a living pursuing your passion through hard work, dedication and a friendly, approachable and professional personality. Just like anything in life, good things don’t come easy but we like to think that we’re helping to create a positive community at Talented Art Fair and New Artist Fair where like-minded artists and art lovers can come together and share the risks and rewards of buying and selling art. It’s an exciting time, and we’re so thrilled that we get to be part of the era of the Artepreneur which is changing and expanding the course of art history in the 21st century as we know it.

Sue Haskel and Happy Buyers at Talented Art Fair

Author

Co-Written and Edited by Leah Michelle and Oliver Norris (Lemon Art)