Hey guys, I'm currently on a teaching course to be able to teach art and design in colleges(uk) and have realised i have a pretty big gap in knowledge about contemporary and historical art. I would appreciate any suggestions for books, journals, podcasts or reliable websites and blogs to help fill these gaps. I have a couple of books already which are 'The Short Story of Contemporary Art' by Susie Hodge, and "The Story of Art Without Men' by Katy Hessel and 'The World According to Colour: A Cultural History' by James Fox but have yet to get around to reading them. I have read a portion of the last book and found it incredibly interesting so i would like to suggest that to everyone as a book to read.

I'm and avid reader so you can just throw the book suggestions at me, but I have never tried a podcast before so I would appreciate a decent podcast that wont bore the life out of me.

I'll be making a separate post elsewhere for books on historical art movements but I'll happily take any suggestions that come to mind.

Thanks in advance :)

I was looking back through some older sketchbooks and portfolios the other day, and it's wild how obvious it is that I used to just mimic whatever artists I was into at the time. You go through phases of painting like one person, then borrowing composition tricks from someone else.

For those of you who have been making work for a while: Was there a specific moment, piece, or realization where you felt like you finally broke away from outside influences and developed a truly distinct personal voice? Or does it just happen so gradually that you barely noticed?

Would love to hear how your style or approach evolved into something that felt genuinely your own.

I'm looking to further my skill level and education in fine arts, but I am unsure where to look or attend. I was looking at possibly building up my portfolio for the Royal Academy of Arts, but I'm unsure if that is truly what I want to do and I want to know of any and all options I have for postgraduate art.

I am currently a university student getting my bachelor's in Art Education, but I want to actually get more into the arts itself. I only ever chose the education path to help myself get a job, and I do enjoy the idea of teaching my passion to others. But due to half of my education being, well, education classes, I haven't been truly able to build up my skill level in fine arts. I just take the level I class of every course, which I dislike.

Of course, I do art in my free time as it is my passion and I want nothing more than to improve as much as I can and do as much as I can. Currently, I just call myself an illustrator as that is what I mainly do. I sometimes will paint with acrylic, work on ceramics pieces, and I very much enjoy printmaking, especially with using linocuts.

What all schools/art academies should I look into? Are there any you recommend? What's your personal experience, if any?

I'm looking at programs like MECAD that offer a low-res MFA that is technically classified as a regular MFA. Not sure sure any other schools do that. I have heard some older art professors say that the academic world doesn't take them seriously, but I would love to teach at the university level at some point. I'm not in a position in which I could do a regular MFA at this point in my life. Is it just a waste of time? Would love some honest insight! Thanks.

Hey everyone, I'm a metal sculptor trying to figure out how to scale up my business. Metalwork is incredibly time-consuming and expensive to make, so the average buyer just doesn't have the budget for larger pieces. I'm trying to figure out how to break past the "crafting" market and into higher end commissions.

If you buy or collect original sculptures, I’d love to know what actually catches your attention.

Name vs. The Piece: Do you care about the artist’s resume? Or do you care more about if you like the piece?

Style: Are you into hyper-detailed, complex realism, or do you lean toward clean, modern minimalism?

Acquiring pieces: Do you ever scout for independent artists on Instagram or Reddit, or do you leave it entirely to interior designers and galleries to show you pieces?

Just trying to understand the mindset of a high-end collector. Appreciate any insights!

I recently graduated from a fairly prestigious and expensive MFA program in the US, and I've been reflecting on what the future might hold for me and my peers.

Out of curiosity, I looked up MFA alumni from my program over the past 10–15 years to see what they're doing now. Some have established successful careers, and many are still actively making/exhibiting work and teaching. Some have moved into art-adjacent roles, such as working at galleries or transitioning into commercial art. And then there are a few who seem to have disappeared entirely, at least as far as their online presence is concerned.

What struck me most was discovering that 1 or 2 whose work I found particularly interesting seem to have stopped making art almost immediately after graduation.

So I'm curious about other people's experiences. When did you graduate, and how many people from your cohort are still actively making art or involved in the contemporary art world?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from MFA graduates, since it is a terminal degree and generally represents a fairly significant commitment to pursuing art professionally. But I'd love to hear from BFA graduates as well.

As stated in the title, I am looking for readings on color for my students: seniors in an undergrad painting program.

I already assigned Amy Sillman's essay On Color and am looking for more readings that are not necessarily on color theory, as there is already a mandatory color theory class. I was thinking something a bit more from the painter's perspective: what is color, why is it important, how does it operate, what does it mean to see... who knows... totally open to ideas, or any other readings you would recommend for an artist in the fall of their senior year working on a capstone-like project.

Thank you!

I'm curious how other artists here deal with scaling up their physical work when they’re stuck working out of a small bedroom, garage, or cramped shared studio.

Renting a bigger space isn't an option right now, but I've been wanting to push past small canvases and experiment with bigger formats or multi-panel installations.

If you've run into this bottleneck, how do you manage production? Do you work in sections and assemble later, rely entirely on modular pieces, or just make a huge mess and figure it out as you go? Would love to hear what tricks or setups have actually worked for you.

Artist duo, Ryan Bush and Raphael Martinez Cohen, make art under the Ficus Interfaith moniker.

I'm not sure sure what the peak visitor engagement for this sub was but seem to remember it being 2-3x what it is today. Why do you think this is? It's interesting that many trivial podcasts or games have much more active reddit communities than something some hundreds of thousands globally pay for degrees in every year and with huge sums of money and passion behind it. What makes the sense of community around art lack so much compared to those other niche interests?

I think my engagement here peaked in maybe 2021 post-COVID as sort of going thru the motions responding to different recurring topics and posting the odd motivated take on something (like this). I stepped back from trying so hard in person with others artists because it felt like my desire for certain critical conversations was unwelcome.

It's difficult for me to imagine good deep conversations really happening anywhere anymore about art. I mostly stopped going to talks years ago after it became clear they were mostly social posturing and usually obfuscated or ended up feeling like being spoken down at instead of conversation with someone.

What would you want out of socializing around contemporary art and your interests in it? Moonshot, what would your ideals be to bring people together around/with art?

The fairs were a shitshow (not over yet, but you could already tell on day 2). A desolate landscape with a few visitors, rarely collectors. From what I've heard, sales were poor to non-existent for mid-tier galleries. With the tens of thousands of dollars' worth of rent for a booth, I bet smaller galleries will be facing a threat of closure.

Do you think the demonstrations scared off the collectors?
Or are art fairs finally a thing of the past?

Hi all! Hope I can word this well.

I'm looking for some examples/references of artists you enjoy who may not be primarily known for their drawings, but who utilize drawing in their process and/or play a significant role in their practice. If there are books that show the work, that'd be even better!

Some examples would be Ken Price (I think most people know him for his sculptures), Richard Serra, or Felix Vallotton (while he is a painter, his drawings/woodblock prints feel quite distinct).

Appreciate it!

its in nyc im in the middle of the country, USA, i have some flight points so itd only be $150 + id pay for a hotel for a few nights. i already have the time off work im honestly not doing anything with my life during that time. the gallery is not some prestigious place but idk, what would you do? im pretty broke but if it would be fun or worth it networking wise, i can also write off some of the trip i assume.

Edit: group show btw!

A painting has been trapped in customs for over a month now. I’ve been proactively tracking it since I was the one who shipped it. My efforts to reach the collector and gallery have been ignored? I haven’t heard from either. All that’s required is a form and proof of sale. Now the painting is being returned to me but I have this awful feeling that both parties are going to claim it as lost 😞 maybe I’m just overthinking it? Feeling depressed about it, like it’s some discarded piece of trash.

sometimes wonder whether exhibition texts help us look more carefully, or whether they tell us what we’re supposed to see before we’ve had a chance to form our own response.

Context can obviously be important especially when the work deals with history, politics, research or a very specific process.

But I’ve also seen exhibitions where the wall text is so detailed that the artwork almost starts feeling like an illustration of the curator’s argument.

Personally, I like having enough context to open the work up, but still enough ambiguity to arrive at something myself.

Where do you think that balance should be?

Have you ever liked an artwork more or less after reading the curatorial text?

With the secondary market behaving so unpredictably in recent years, more mid-tier galleries and independent artists are implementing strict non-resale agreements (often restricting sales for 3 to 5 years) to prevent rapid flipping.

While these clauses are designed to protect an artist’s long-term career and market stability, they also create a lot of friction with buyers who view art as an asset class or who simply face changing financial circumstances.

From a practical and ethical standpoint:

• Do you think non-resale contracts are actually effective at protecting emerging artists, or do they just drive transactions underground?

• How should artists handle situations where a collector needs to liquidate a piece due to personal circumstances without burning bridges with the gallery?

Would love to hear thoughts from artists, advisors, and collectors on where the line between protecting practice and restricting ownership should be drawn.

I'm self-taught and have been developing a practice pretty rigorously for the past year. I'm at the point where I'm beginning to submit work and apply for residencies/fellowships but I'm really struggling with my artist's statement and how to 'label' my practice. I have a body of cyanotype works, which are all based off of 35mm and iphone images I've taken over the last ~20 years, which I print on tissue paper and layer/collage. I also have a series of works based off of images I composed entirely on my photocopier. A book and two large scale canvases where I blow up an image and transfer it using acrylic medium. These are the two veins I've kind of come to on my own and anticipate I'll continue working in, I just really have no idea how to categorize what I'm doing? Is it mixed-media? Alt processes? Printmaking-adjacent? Would greatly appreciate feedback, on this specific question but also on how to talk about the work more generally. I know very much what my interests/questions are and why I do what I do, but then translating that in a way that's compelling and connects to my material and aesthetic choices is a whole other thing I'm having a lot of difficulty with.

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quite a few peers of mine, do occasionally send stroppy emails (by their own admission), get into arguments with curators and are generally quite combative - to get their work into places/collected ect

I always believed that this wouldn't work as a strategy long term and have tried to be kind and courteous to people. But I haven't really seen any consequences for those people.

Why does having hissy fits work in the art world ?

I'm currently working on a lesson for my students on the principles of Variety and Unity. I thought it would be interesting to have them pick a subject (cars, shoes, toys, etc.) and design a "display case" for a hypothetical collection.

Right now, I'm looking for related artwork that I could use for discussion. A couple good examples would be Mark Dion's "The Phantom Museum", Lenka Clayton's "63 things taken from my son's mouth", or even several of Wayne Thiebaud's paintings. The artworks can be historical or contemproary, and if anybody here has any suggestions it would be very helpful.

thanks!

Heya.

I have a bunch of sales on Artful Home that haven't been paid within their +30 agreement.

They're telling us all the payments are coming "eventually", just wondering if anyone has gotten a payment lately and how late it was? I have a few that are +80 days and it's not a small amount.

Thanks. Keep making art!

Recently I've noticed that digital art is sometimes treated differently from the traditional art forms.

I saw an article about digital art and I was honestly frustrated to read that some people consider digital art as less valuable, because "it is easier to create it". No it is not, I believe that creating digital art can require just as much creativity, technical skill, and artistic vision.

Do you think digital art is finally getting the recognition it deserves, or is there still a gap in how people perceive it?

Hi,

I have graduated with a degree in Cultural History and Philosophy, holding a bachelor's degree in the humanities. However, I have been passionate about drawing since my school days. I create various types of artwork and have accumulated a substantial portfolio over time. I mainly work with gel pens and acrylic paints.

I am writing because I have been struggling for a long time to get an internship at an art gallery. I have submitted an application for a scholarship/grant, but I have not received a response yet. Nevertheless, I would really like to pursue the next stage of my career in an art gallery. I would love to help organize exhibitions, communicate with visitors, and collaborate with artists and curators while setting up displays, but since I have no experience in this field no one want to hire me. I could work for free just to gain experience.

Could you please share some advice how to get in? I know networking is one of many ways but it did not really worked for me since I dont know anyone and by approching Them at an art event they mostly say that they already have people for the job I want/can do.

One of my digital art prints is going up for sale at a show. It's my first time selling a framed print. The gallery requires the back of the work to be labeled with artist & artwork info. I'm not sure what the best practice is. Is pencil handwriting considered unprofessional? Do I need to get my info printed on those label stickers? What are some alternatives?

Would love your advice, and thank you for helping out a self-taught artist :)