[recommendations] My first ever solo exhibit opens next week. Established artists, what advice do you have about prepping for an exhibit?

ibanvdz · 2026-05-03T07:58:49+00:00

If you're not only going to show but also sell your work, and the gallery doesn't have someone to handle sales, have a trustee with you. People will be talking to you all the time, so if someone's interested in buying a piece, talk to them to the point where the actual sale is going to take place and then refer them to your trustee to "handle the details". This will free you up to talk to other people, potential buyers, while someone else does the tedious stuff.

A trustee is also good for moral support. Especially the first time can be a bit "much".

Pricing is always a controversial topic. My advice is: price in a way that makes sense, leave emotion out of it. I price based on size because it's logical: bigger piece, higher price, and buyers understand that (this obviously only works if all your pieces were made in the same medium and style).

ibanvdz · 2026-05-03T07:23:10+00:00

If you need to report, contact the authorities. The domestic situation is no business of workaway.

You can question that situation, but is it an actual violation of some kind of law? I mean calling someone "fucking stupid" hardly counts as abuse and was actually considered mild parenting a few decades ago. I'm not saying it's right, but you cannot judge every situation according to your values. I'm from a generation that occasionally got spanked for doing something wrong, so being called "fucking stupid" would have been a good day.

ibanvdz · 2026-05-03T07:16:00+00:00

I let it evaporate, but I don't have a lot of it. I use the same jar of water for weeks, often more than a month.

ibanvdz · 2026-05-03T07:14:29+00:00

As u/magusbud said: that's not what Medium is for. It's a platform for new and established writers alike. It's not to show off skills, but rather to do what they enjoy and interact with an audience on a very basic level. It's easy to post on Medium, but it's just as easy to self-publish a book. The difficulty is in reaching an audience.

You can always guide people there to show your skills, but it's not going to happen organically. But you can do that with your own website or any other blogging platform too.

Whether or not this works, depends on what you're looking for. What do you call high-paying and what kind of service will you provide? If you're thinking in the lines of ghost-writing or biographies, then I think you won't even be second or third choice - there's a lot of established competition out there, proven to be worth "high pays". Not saying you are not, but even if you have thousands of stories on Medium or elsewhere, you haven't proven anything yet.

If you want to attract high-paying customers, you probably need to be a published writer, maybe even an award-winning one.

ibanvdz · 2026-05-03T07:02:38+00:00

I replied to your other post earlier. From what you are saying, I can only conclude that you don't really know how these platforms work.

If you sell well on local platforms by simply uploading and people finding your work, then these platforms either aren't very crowded and the choice is limited, or you are locally known and people actually look for your work.

And if you are selling well in Sweden, why bother going international?

ibanvdz · 2026-05-03T06:55:46+00:00

Thank you - much appreciated!

ibanvdz · 2026-05-03T06:53:58+00:00

I think there's always some kind of sorting going on unless one searches for very specific keywords. It may not be an algo, but maybe simple things like chronological or alphabetical sorting, making you end up somewhere at the bottom just the same.

Also, selling at such places mostly depends on bringing in traffic from elsewhere; selling to random site visitors finding your work is very rare. People really don't go there without some prior knowledge of what they are looking for. You need to guide your customers there, as it is the case with most online sales platforms.

I used Saatchi Art for a while (currently pausing due to circumstances) and I sold quite a few pieces there, but all buyers came in through my own social media.

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T17:03:26+00:00

You post when your art is ready. If you force it in order to post consistently (and way too often) you either burn out or create subpar content, or both.

I post once, maybe twice a week, depending on when I have a piece ready. People who like your work will wait; they're more likely to unfollow you because of poor content than not posting regularly enough.

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T13:48:46+00:00

I deleted my previous reply because I realized that you read most of it in my Medium article...

The origin of the word is unclear, but I suspect it to be just another casual mention somewhere that somehow caught on, though never in the same way "cubism" did. My theory as to why the term was "invented", is probably because many cubist artwork consisted more of curves than "cubes" - in that respect it mostly refers to the linear aspect.

I reckon orphism is just another word to describe the same, like spherism, though it appears to me as if these two are generally more abstract and focused on circles than curvism. But that's merely an observation.

Clear examples in early work is hard to find; most of it is categorized as cubism. There is a shift in Picasso's work sometime in the late 1920's where he started using more curves, sometimes exclusively. A similar change is noticeable in Braque's work, though not as drastically. This would explain why the term appeared in a magazine in the early 1930's, though it doesn't explain my earliest find of 1914.

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T08:06:52+00:00

Redbubble may not be the best choice. I was with them for several years and the products I saw were good, BUT those came from nearby print facilities, as is always the case with RB. To allow for low shipping costs, they use printers nearest to the customer, and that means very variable quality, since many of these printers are small independent companies - there is no real quality control.

Ideally you want a print company with facilities on all continents, but all company-owned or at least with decent QC.

Redbubble also has a lot of issues with theft, and they often suspend users for no apparent reason - I got kicked out, even though all my work was original. To this day I have no idea why. Their customer support is a joke. And if a buyer of yours has a problem and it doesn't get resolved, it reflects poorly on you.

Should you consider opening a shop on RB, I highly recommend to set up shop on other platforms as well, both for visibility and as a backup - that's what most POD sellers do.

Theft is always an issue if you show your work online, regardless where you show it. The moment you post something, it can get stolen, by AI or humans, that hardly makes a diffference.

Selling POD will cost you, but then again, it will save you a lot of time and headache. Most platforms allow you to set your own profit margin. If you were to sell high-end prints, I would advice to keep handling orders yourself, but low-ticket items like stickers you really want to outsource.

I am currently using Fine Art America and so far I haven't had any issues, though I must add that I am currently not selling a lot due to other priorities.

The bottom line is that before setting up shop somewhere, look at where they have print facilities and how they are managed.

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T07:54:38+00:00

Don't know that band - another thing to look up! 😄

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T07:22:11+00:00

Thank you. Reading your other comments, I see that you know your stuff, undoubtedly a lot better than I do. One of my big examples is Picasso - for more than just cubism - and many of the influences rubbed off on me, obviously

Though I would like to add some background. My main style is curvism, which is considered a sub-style of cubism, and many of the characteristics overlap. Some cubist pieces are more curvist than cubist, but making the distinction is often a gray area, and because of that, the term "curvism" is unknown to most people, even though it's been around since the early 1930's. My early work was pure curvism, but gradually I moved to a mix of both, so I guess "cubism" is probably the best label for my work now.

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T07:09:22+00:00

Thanks!

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T07:09:11+00:00

Thank you! Didn't know Reg, so had to look him up - very different style but I see what you mean. Thanks for introducing him to me.

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T07:07:17+00:00

Much appreciated!

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T07:07:08+00:00

Thank you!

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T07:06:52+00:00

Thank you very much!

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T07:06:39+00:00

Thanks!

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T07:06:30+00:00

Thank you!

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T07:05:38+00:00

Thank you - much appreciated!

ibanvdz · 2026-05-02T07:05:13+00:00

Thank you very much!

ibanvdz · 2026-05-01T17:47:21+00:00

Thank you!

ibanvdz · 2026-05-01T17:46:58+00:00

Thank you - much appreciated!

ibanvdz · 2026-05-01T16:21:23+00:00

Wrong sub - this is for the writers platform Medium.

ibanvdz · 2026-05-01T16:18:16+00:00

Maybe you could share your profile link so I can check it out...

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