The secrets for a successful studio visit
The Studio Visit is an opportunity for artists to narrate their artistic research within their atelier.
We must be careful not to make certain mistakes and risk losing interesting opportunities…
The artists’ studio offers, to those lucky enough to have this experience, a privileged “front row” perspective on the life and the creative process of the artist.
Organising meetings in the ateliers is a common practice in the art world, useful to strengthen the relationship with curators, gallery owners and collectors: provided as long as you know how to speak clearly about your work, there will be plenty of opportunities.
But something could go wrong…
Let’s see then some mistakes to avoid during a Studio Visit:
Taking everything for granted
Being a young artist with an emerging career or having the first succesful feedbacks in the art world, should not make you think that everyone knows what you have done during your career so far.
Telling about yourself, emphasising the main experiences between exhibitions and projects where you took part, is always a great start.
If you do it with humility and with the spirit of sharing your experiences, you will put at ease the person you have welcomed and “break the ice”.
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Being self-centred
Dialogue is part of the process of discovering your work.
Those who visit your atelier are already interested in the artistic practice you are carrying out, but it is likely for them not to specify the reason immediately.
After telling when, how and why you have started a certain phase of your research, leave room for dialogue.
The critical thinking of someone else who talk about your work may surprises you and in some cases helps you develop new creative processes.
Being negative
A Studio Visit is a business meeting, so unless you are very familiar with the person you are hosting, maintain a professional attitude.
Do not talk badly about others (whether they are artists or colleagues of who is listening to you), do not start talking about your sentimental situation, let alone the economic situation.
If that person wants to exhibit, buy or talk about your works, he will not do it because he took pity on your misadventures…
“That work is not available”
So why are you showing it to me?”
Error never to be made, especially with professionals such as gallery owners and collectors.
Both will remember the only work they could not have, rather than the available ones.
Prepare your atelier as if to create a personal exhibition, based on the works available and that are close to the latest phases of your research.
And above all, they are all for sale!
Where if they are not, because already sold, or booked for an exhibition, then tell your guest immediately and let him or her decide if they want to see it anyway, maybe to get a better idea of your art, but beware, the choice must be exclusively his or hers.
Ignoring the role of your interlocutor
Talking to a curator will be very different from talking to a gallery owner or collector.
Establish key points to highlight, which can allow the different figures to understand your work for the sector of the art world to which they belong.
Being self-congratulatory
Let the people you have welcomed in the atelier develop a critical and comprehensive opinion about your work.
Making statements with which you boast of past or future successes will make you look unpleasant and devoid of humility.
Do not miss the opportunity to learn more about your collector, or vice versa your favourite artist, on the occasion of a visit to his or her atelier, it could prove to be a unique opportunity!
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