Ken Berman at Contemporary Venice 2019
One of the true ironies about being an artist at any time in history is that it is up to each artist to create their work and then find their market and ‘tribe’ of collectors and other compatible artists. It’s a tough road to hoe so most contemporary artists leave the search for a market up to galleries who show a specific type of work. Unfortunately, with the current stable of artists in galleries it appears that the artists have a 1-in-a-million chance of success since there isn’t enough market demand to digest the supply of art. In fact, many artists have come to me decrying that they are not making progress in finding representation and asking me for advice. My advice is that with the global marketplace you can’t afford to put all your marketing eggs in one gallery basket.
Photo of my work in the exhibit in Venice, Italy.
For example, some artists like Van Gogh had a very difficult time creating a market for their work during their lifetimes so financial success was elusive. In the age of the internet and global marketing, the chances for artists to reach their potential markets and collectors is great but in order for an artist to find their tribes they need to employ an asymmetric and disruptive approach if the typical avenues are not available.
Photo of my work in the exhibit in Venice, Italy.
However there is a silver lining in finding ones market and ‘tribe’ and that has to do with building your brand. Some of the brand development can be part of market research where an artist sifts through multitudes of opportunities and select a few venues to present their works. It’s mostly a guessing game but there are patterns that develop where an artist starts to get an idea about which venues are friendly to their work and which ones are not. Given that the local market is already familiar with my work I thought it to be a good idea to broaden the market for my work abroad. In this case to Venice, Italy … plus I got the chance to promote my line of apparel at Ken Berman Gear as well as my architectural projects at Red Maple Workshop - Architects & Designers.
Note to self: For some reason my work reminds me of Albert Einstein Paintings since the combination of elements in my work are like my own theory of relativity. Is this what an Einstein Painting would have looked like if it were done by Albert Einstein himself? If he did paint I think his work would have been as far out there as his hair. I guess that my theory of relativity in this modern age is that I can be Ken Berman, Ken Artist, Ken Art, Berman Painter, Berman Painting and Berman Artist all at the same time and in the same place.