With all the extra time for planning and catching up that you've had over the past couple of months, I'm sure you've taken some time to make sure your portfolio and website make you look as professional as possible. Right?
It is a constant surprise to me that there are so many creatives out there who don't have a professional presentation of themselves online. I do a lot of research, and spend a good deal of time looking up artists and other creatives that I come across in my research. I'll find an international competition let's say, where a list is provided of the artists who won last year's contest. Or there is an article published in a magazine listing the top 10 young artists to watch in 2020. I jot down the name of the artists, and hop online to check out their work. I am stunned to find that perhaps as many as half of the award winning artists have no website whatsoever, and many of those who do, don't have any useful information about the artists, their work, or how to contact them. There may be some articles written in the press, and perhaps a link to their Artsy.com page, but nothing else.
Portfolios are just as bad. There are so many artists who present their portfolios online, but provide little more than a jumble of images with no descriptions or any context at all.
I'm not unsophisticated enough to suggest that creatives should be only concerned with marketing and hype, but they should portray a professional image to potential collectors, gallerists and well, to me. While it may make sense for people to post snapshots of their work on Instagram with no descriptions, it's quite another to have someone take the initiative to seek out an artist online, and there be virtually no information available. What a missed opportunity!
So do your public a favor. Update your website. Show me your work, let me read your artist statement, or describe the series you're highlighting on the home page. Give me a bit of a biography. Let me know what you're working on now, and some way to get in touch with you. Is that so much to ask?
Sorry to rant...
Comments