Set up a file
The approach consists in suggesting a concise file. It will then help you to get appointments without experiencing door to door. Today, your file is your website in which we should find : copies of your work, a biography and critics.
Good addresses
Your art address book : You have to identify potencial places where you would exhibit your artworks. To achieve this goal, you will need to build your own electronic address book thanks to online resources.
Exhibition diary
Most fine art magazines have a column named ’exhibitions diary’. You will find the following information for every exhibition: title of the exhibition or name of the artist, a short text presenting her/his work, a copy of one of her/his paintings, the place of exhibition.
By searching in these columns, you will spot the artists which work matches with yours and you will note the place of exhibition so that you will build your own email file of potencial places.
These magazines are available in newspaper kiosk and similar places. They can be refer to freely in specialized libraries.
In Paris :
Bibliothèque Publique d’Information Centre Georges Pompidou.
Bibliothèque Forney 1, rue du Figuier 75004 PARIS.
Elsewhere :
Departmental lending libraries.
Art center libraries.
Your email file will be completed when you will note the places in which planned exhibitions match with your style.
Writing and illustrating emails to your interlocutors :
An email should not be ’embarrassing’ for your interlocutor. It consists in three elements :
The visual part : it should represent your current artworks. Make sure you have great photographies of your artworks.
The textual part : you should say that you are looking for collaborations.
A link to your website.
The visual + textual parts should attract your interlocutor so that she/he will visit your website and contact you for a first appointment.
Your email (texts, pictures) should be legible by all electronic mail services and all softwares or clients.
Obviously, it is not thanks to those documents or others on your website that a quick decision will be taken between you and your interlocutor.
By using these tools, you won’t go into unfavorable direct contacts. You will show your work in the best conditions to your interlocutor during the appointment that , preferably, will be in your art studio.
