How Artists Create Their Own Success

Being an artist can feel like being trapped in a series of absurd catch-22 situations. You need experience to access opportunities, yet you need opportunities to gain experience. An empty résumé is frowned upon. A lack of gallery representation can work against you. At the same time, actively asking for representation is often considered inappropriate. The same problem arises with public commissions and other ambitious projects. Applications are frequently rejected because the artist cannot demonstrate a record of previously realized works. Yet how can you build that record when nobody is willing to give you the first opportunity? What, then, are the alternatives? Should you simply wait and hope for a miracle?

Of course not. Repeating the same approach while expecting a different result is futile. In an art world as competitive as it is today — with millions of artists competing for a limited number of opportunities — doing nothing will almost certainly lead to nothing. In this video, we’ll therefore discuss five practical ways to create your own opportunities. Stop waiting for permission, and start taking action. If nobody is giving you an opportunity, you should create it yourself — albeit in strategic ways that are applauded instead of loathed by the art world.

1. Stop Waiting for an Exhibition Opportunity — Create One Instead

There is nothing more discouraging and frustrating than creating work, and continuing to create work, without ever showing it — without anyone besides yourself ever standing in front of it and admiring it. As a result, every new work you create and are happy with should, at some point, be exhibited. Only then is the cycle complete. Creating it is one thing. Exhibiting it in the context you envision for it is completing the full circle — it’s the ideal moment to capture what you’re capable of, and the only way to prove and convince people that you’re worth it.

There are different ways to do this. Perhaps the easiest is to rent a space, even briefly — think empty retail units, studio buildings, community centers. Find a space that suits the work and host your own show. A great strategy is also to do this in collaboration with other artists. Not only can you split the costs, the workload, and the risk, you can also multiply your audience and generate real buzz, on social media or even in the press, simply because of the larger, more ambitious scale of the show. Five networks promoting the same opening are far more powerful than just one.

If the budget is tight, use what you already have. A studio open house. Your own living space, cleared out and turned into a white cube for a weekend. Something site-specific in a public spot. You can also proactively reach out to people with spaces that aren’t designed for art and find a creative solution that benefits everyone involved. The drinks sold at the bar can often be a great source of income for the venue or for covering your own costs. Sometimes you simply need to be proactive and creative to create that opportunity yourself.

A golden rule: exhibit at least once a year. So if you’re not being given any opportunities to show your work — start organizing your own show right now.

2. Don’t Expect the Art World to Meet You — Go Out and Meet it

Many artists believe their responsibility is simply to create the work, while the art world is responsible for discovering them. In reality, however, the artist must first discover the art world before it can return the favor. This should mean more than visiting exhibitions and meeting other artists. It means becoming an active participant. Those with strong writing skills could contribute texts to online art platforms, write exhibition reviews, or start an art-focused Instagram page. Attending openings, talks, studio visits, and other events helps you understand your regional art scene, identify its key figures, and learn how opportunities actually circulate.

It’s equally valuable to participate in the less glamorous work that happens behind the scenes — assisting in an artist’s studio, helping to install an exhibition, volunteering at an art fair, or supporting the organization of a local cultural event. These roles bring you into contact with the very people you hope will eventually discover your work. By contributing, participating, and making yourself part of the community, that distant ambition becomes considerably more realistic.

Do not wait for the art world to discover you. Go out and meet it, participate in it, understand it. By becoming an active part of that world, you’ll naturally begin to draw its attention towards you.

3. Browse, Apply, Repeat

Open calls are arguably one of the most clear-cut ways to proactively look for opportunities, because they’re actually looking for artists to apply to them. Yes, it can sometimes be a bit boring, there’s a lot of administrative work, and it’s not always an enjoyable path — there are plenty of scammy or vanity-type open calls, and ones with application fees that don’t have the decency to tell you you weren’t accepted, leaving you to simply find out who the winners were on your own. And there will be tons and tons of rejection. For every open call that accepts you, there will be at least a dozen or more that reject you.

And yet you should apply relentlessly, simply because it’s one of the few ways you can actively seek opportunities. Try to apply for opportunities that are within your reach — it makes no sense to apply for the Marcel Duchamp Prize if you’re a new emerging artist. But that doesn’t mean you should apply to opportunities that are irrelevant or have nothing to do with the art world. It’s also very important to focus on quality over quantity. Don’t apply to almost everything that’s out there — that exhausts your resources and time, and your conversion rate will be terrible. So do your due diligence. Try to niche down. Find the open call that’s designed for you — specific to your medium, your location, your age or situation, or the subject matter your work deals with.

This is where a platform like Artenda — a database compiling art opportunities, filterable by exactly those criteria, and able to send you reminders for the ones that fit — becomes crucial. It makes the whole process more enjoyable, more efficient, and more swift. Try to browse at least once a month, and apply to every opportunity that fits your profile and your work. If you do your research, you should find at least one good open call every month. So: browse, apply, repeat.

4. Be Your Own Gallerist

It’s a well-known unwritten rule that unsolicited submissions, self-promotion, and openly trying to advance your commercial position are generally frowned upon in the art world. Yet while the way you promote yourself should stay tasteful, professional, and centered on the art rather than overt commercialism, this doesn’t mean staying passive when nobody is representing you. Dare to become your own gallerist. Dare to represent yourself — because at this stage, nobody else will be doing it for you.

Pitch your work and exhibitions to local newspapers, art blogs, cultural magazines, newsletters, and art-focused Instagram accounts with substantial audiences — occasionally a reasonable promotional fee is worth paying, provided the platform is credible. Take responsibility for the infrastructure around your practice too: your own texts, a professional website, strong images, and a central contact list of collectors, curators, and writers — noting how you know them, what they’re interested in, and when you last followed up.

Whenever you organise your own show, prepare a clear PR plan in advance: whom you’ll contact, when, and who might help promote it. And build your own network of collectors — through online sales, studio visits, or self-organised exhibitions — rather than waiting for a gallery to build one for you. There is, for instance, the interesting anecdote that Luc Tuymans approached Frank Demaegd of Zeno X Gallery with both a body of work and a list of people ready to buy it. He didn’t merely ask for representation — he arrived with leverage, momentum, and an existing market. Their collaboration followed, and the rest is history.

Be your own gallerist until a gallery is ready to take over that role — representing yourself professionally, and respecting the unwritten rules of the art world while still taking control of your own career.

5. Dare to Invest in Yourself

To conclude: it’s acceptable to take a loss, so don’t let the fear of losing money prevent you from investing in your career — without being too reckless, of course. It’s acceptable to invest in your practice even when there’s no immediate or measurable return in income, exposure, or career advancement. Pursuing an artistic vision requires resources. Artists often look to grants, institutions, collectors, or patrons to provide them — but one of the most convincing ways to earn that support is to demonstrate that you believe in your work strongly enough to invest in it yourself.

This is difficult on a limited budget, especially with a family or other financial responsibilities. Nevertheless, the difference between a successful artist and an equally talented one who remains unknown can sometimes be traced back to exactly this willingness to take a calculated risk. Perhaps it means renting a larger studio for a few months to produce a more ambitious body of work or to make a better impression on visiting press or gallery directors. Perhaps it means realizing an expensive public project with your own money when that grant proposal has been refused. Or investing time and money in creating an uncollectable site-specific installation during your solo show, despite it being impossible to sell, yet probable to leave a more enduring impression on everyone who visited the show.

The line between commitment and recklessness can admittedly get thin — pouring in time and money without tangible results will understandably make you wonder why you’re doing it at all. Yet the willingness to pursue the work because the vision itself demands to be realized, not merely for the result it might produce, is often what separates artists who remain full of potential from those who fulfill it. You’d be surprised how many successful artists have made absurd investments, almost reinvesting everything they have in their art rather than living a more comfortable life.

Last Updated on July 14, 2026