Brainard Carey’s book “Making It in the Art World: New Approaches to Galleries, Shows, and Raising Money” is concisely and plainly laid out to offer the greatest amount of advice in the most easily digestible manner.
The first thing it establishes is that in order to succeed you have to make a commitment to your art and to stick to that commitment. There is even a contract that you have to make with yourself in the workbook section. This book lays out a blueprint to make your dreams a reality and the workbook section allows you to put together a plan of action. You can even download the workbook separately if you are a teacher or do not wish to write in the book, in case your plan changes over time or you have purchased the eBook version.
As he explains in the book, one of the most detrimental ideas floating around in the ‘ART WORLD’ is that you should only make art for the sake of making art and any attempt to promote and sell your work makes you a sell-out. This book helps crush that myth. It gives you the tools to make your dream a reality.
We are in the midst of an art marketing revolution. More and more avenues of promoting and marketing your work are opening up every day. Brainard Carey explains how to take advantage of these opportunities, with many examples of artists who have done exactly that.
Like a number of artist handbooks there are sections on getting your administrative duties in order to writing your statement to handling press releases, working with sponsors and how to secure a show at a gallery or museum.
We are in the midst of one of the worst recessions in history and this book is a formidable tool with which to weather the storm. It will motivate you and get you started on your career. As a result, I am now more confident than ever that I have what it takes to make it, and look forward to a successful career as a full-time professional artist. As he states, “the new paradigm is a call to action for all artists all over the world to change the current system of finance and the arts.” I could not agree more.
