Art Fag City at The L Magazine: How to Be an Art Professional as the Economy Crumbles

The packing peanut. Image via: The L Magazine

This week’s piece at The L Magazine discusses the latest in professional guide books: gallerist Heather Darcy Bhandari and lawyer Jonathan Melber's ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career and professional art coach and artist Jackie Battenfield's The Artist’s Guide.  The teaser below.

Art world activity may slow to a near stop during the summer, but this won't hinder the wheels of the latest discussion within the field: its professionalization. Given the growth of the art market over the last 30 years, thought on the subject is well overdue, though it feels slightly weird that it occurs now, one and half years after the height of the last economic boom. After all, these trends tend to slacken quite a bit when we have less money to court, in large part because the art world finds it tacky.

But books on this subject find good use during hard times, so it's a good thing so many professional authors have found publishers. Amongst those launched over the last six months alone are Gallerist Heather Darcy Bhandari and lawyer Jonathan Melber's ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career and professional art coach and artist Jackie Battenfield's The Artist’s Guide (a book conceived ten years prior to its publication).

These books seem to cover everything an art professional might need to know (short of providing cocktail party conversation tips). Battenfield provides an intensely thorough and personalized guide to making money in the art world, while Bhandari and Melber draw on their gallery and law backgrounds to create the most air-tight studio management documents I've seen. Both cover topics such as balancing your time and creating a plan of action, putting together gallery submission materials, applying for grants and managing dealer relationships.

To read the full piece click here.