Category: Exhibition

Painting itself is fun, interesting and sometimes a challenge, and I am happy when people tell me that they like my paintings, but my goal is to sell them.
I do not have to live on it, but of course I want to sell my art. This is a form of recognition that motivates and encourages.
So how can I make my paintings better known and show them to a broader public?

The first step was this website, bundled with the corresponding social media activities via Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
I had the opportunity to show my paintings at exhibitions in Hamburg and Fitou, where I also sold some of them. Exhibitions are an excellent opportunity to get in touch with art enthusiasts, to receive feedback and suggestions and to sell.
The commercial art market is a special thing, it is quite difficult to find a gallery as an unknown artist, where you can exhibit.
There are, of course, some interesting approaches for how to show my work. I’ve looked around a bit, how other artists do it.

Art Platforms on the Internet

It is relatively easy to present one’s work and, at first glance, this possibility seems very tempting. The disadvantage is, there the artist is the product and the art is rather secondary. The more artists show their work on a platform, the more interesting is this website for investors, advertising and target group-specific offers but also for art lovers. Some platforms offer advice and curation, some are free and raise acceptable sales provisions.
The larger platforms are financed through sales promotions and complementary services for artists and art lovers, the smaller via monthly subscription fees.
It is not a big effort to put a portfolio on some of these websites and show one’s art to a broader public, e.g. https://www.saatchiart.com/christinegraf

Galleries

Difficult to get in, most do not take any new artists under contract or have already planned their exhibitions for the next two years.
A gallery does not want to take any risk and show unknown artists. The market is flooded by artists who already have a name and are still hard to sell.
With a little bit of luck you will be able to show a few pieces of your work for a short period of time, especially if the gallery is in a tourist region.

Self-Organised Exhibitions

This approach can work quite well, if several artists come together and cover a broad portfolio. We tried this last summer with the ARTFabrik and despite of this spontaneous idea without major planning, we were quite successful.
We will refine this concept and continue to pursue it next year.

Pop up Exhibitions

These are short-term exhibitions in shops, banks, offices or public buildings. Some business owners are very open to this idea, as it also helps them to present their own products catching the eye of their clients in an attractive way. It takes a little planning, of course, and you have to look at how that fits the concept of the business.

Art Events

Particularly in tourist regions, numerous events are organised, where local artists have the chance to present themselves. These can be by regular (art) markets or even one-time, yearly recurring exhibitions.
Here, too, one must be well-networked to have the chance to exhibit at all.

So I will go on the search, where I can exhibit next year, be it in the region where I live, in the German-speaking area, UK or elsewhere in Europe. Any suggestions and invitations are very welcome Contact me!

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