Stop Hoping Somebody Will Discover You

“I don’t know enough people” might be one of the most convenient lies artists tell themselves. And before you get cross with me, hear me out.

If you tell yourself, you don’t know the right curators, collectors, commissioners, gallerists, or writers, you get to keep believing the problem is your network. You don’t have to risk contacting somebody. You don’t have to hear no. And you get to keep hoping that one day somebody might discover you.

But hope is protecting you from the very thing your work needs you to do.

I speak to artists every single day, and I hear versions of this constantly. “I live in the arse end of nowhere.” “I don’t have the money.” “I hate private views.” ““I’m awkward.” “I didn’t go to the right art school.” “My work is too strange.” “I’m an introvert.”

And look, I have empathy with a lot of this. I’m an introvert myself. Given the choice, I would much rather sit in my little home office writing or talking properly to one interesting person than spend three hours shouting over somebody at a private view.

But I think something else is going on.

Why, when you already know how to network, are you still not doing it?

I don’t think most artists need another lesson in networking. I think some of you need to stop waiting to feel comfortable enough to start. That’s what today is about.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Stop waiting to be discovered. You can’t control whether somebody says yes, but you can control whether you make the invitation, send the email, follow up, or put the work in front of somebody.

You don’t need the whole art world. You need your world: the people whose interests genuinely overlap with what you’re exploring. 

Who curated the exhibition that you loved, who wrote that essay that you keep returning to? Who commissioned that artist whose trajectory really fascinates you? Start with your curiosity, research those people, and follow the threads.