Paul Klein on How to Succeed as an Artist

Summary of How to succeed as an artist  Success is about relationships  There are much more a lot of different art villages.  There are no obstacles. The only obstacles that exist are the obstacles we put in front of ourselves or the lack of knowledge. - Mentors and teaching convey a ton of knowledge about how the art world operates  3 key ingredients to having successful art career 1. Be distinctive – be yourself. Be who you are. Be honest. Dig down inside yourself. Reveal who you are. All of us on this planet as human beings are unique. - You have to fine what makes you distinctive from everybody else. 2. You got to get your ass in the game. - You’ve got to get engaged. - It is no longer sufficient to sit in your studio and expect the world to come to you. You’ve got to still give it the opportunity to get seen - Associate with people better than yourself. - Create opportunities where your work gets seen. - Hustle 3. Make good art - Good art means distinctive. - Can’t all of us name artists who are doing really well monetarily whose work we think sucks? Don’t we all know and maybe we could out ourselves artists who are making fabulous work that nobody’s paying any attention to? All of this stuff that makes the art world so wonderful is that all of the stuff is subjective. It’s not like its objective.  You need to adjust your strategy to your objectives. - What is succeed? On would assume that’s money. But that isn’t the case for everybody. Some people want to get attention for what they’re doing. Some people want to communicate. There are lots of kinds of objectives that an artist can have. You need to know what your object.  I believe that give or take 20%, 50% of an artist’s effort should be outside of making art. That means 30 to 70% of an artist time and efforts should be about focusing on their career.  More and more artists can benefit by having business partners the same way a corporation would have business partners.  It’s really important that artists apply the creativity that they bring to their artwork also to their career. ]  It’s wise to have a role model or several role models. You don’t have to follow their path but you can see what worked for them and what didn’t work for them. - Do not assume that you cannot pick up the phone and call. Say “hey, I am wondering hot it worked for you when you did.”  Somebody asked George Burn the secret to acting. He said sincerity. - The idea is that people want to associate with people who they think are upbeat, positive, successful. Have a good attitude. Even if you’re not successful today have an attitude that conveys my trajectory is rising and I’m going to be a success.  Spend at least 20 hours a week making art to have a chance an art career. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for going to openings growing your community.  Lots of personal art comes from powerful life experiences  Communicate and grow your audience over the internet.

This lecture is on point. I have no formal art education. All I have done is go to the best museums in Europe and the US, watch documentaries, read books, and ask artists questions. My first solo museum exhibition is happening in May among other recent successes. It’s mostly a question of motivation...

As an artist in her sixties, your talk on how to be a successful artist is inspiring and lets me know that even at my age, I can still have a ten year plan with my positive attitude. Indeed.

It is so true about what you say about making oppertunities for yourself. If there are none- make them!4 yrs ago I had an idea to start teaching art and since no one was willing to hire me, I decided to create my own - renting out a space and teaching. I found a business partener-4 years on I am still teaching in my own studio and now get asked to teach at other places.I now have another idea and have started that.It's a lot of hard work but , I dont wake up everyday feeling miserable.

1. Be distinctive, be yourself. “You might as well be yourself: everyone else is taken”. Vision is what distinguishes you from everyone else — write it down in a dynamic artist’s statement. 2. Get your ass in the game. Get engaged. Associate with people better than yourself. Hustle. Strategy is how you differentiate your art. Be affable. Be upbeat. Have your elevator pitch. 3. Make good art. Again, be distinctive. Recognize that art is visceral, emotional. Set real objectives, based on your vision, and let it inform your strategy.

He's talking about creating an art career guys. Not sitting in your room "doing what you love". Honestly that won't get you far, you'll need a day job if that's the case. He is saying to be an artist, you'll need to be an entrepreneur, you need to make money so you don't need that day job. And why is that? Because you won't have the time it takes to make GOOD art. And yes to be good you need time, you need to be original. And how can you be distinctive without spending 6 days a week working your art business. Yes BUSINESS is necessary to have a career as an artist. Your human capital is your art, your career is your art, your sales is your art. There is no such thing as selling out unless you are committing forgery. And by the way what really well known, or truly remarkable artist did not embrace the business of art? Not many my friends. A Van Gough here and there maybe. Good luck, have a vision that includes capitalising your work 🤗

Excellent talk. Phil says, “So much of what makes an artist significant is their life experiences, more so than their formal education." BAM! How very true.

R.I.P Paul Klein. Thank you so much for everything.

Words of wisdom: the only obstacles are the ones you put in front of yourself, or lack of knowledge!

When I enrolled in art school--1966--it was $300 per year for The Art Institute of Boston...5 days a week with nothing else but art.

This guy is freaking brilliant. This is one of the best talks I’ve ever heard relating to the art industry. I’m going to look for sky up and follow more of his talks

You gave a lot of very good advice. I have created my own career as an artist. I have worked as an entertainer drawing cartoons, not caricatures, for exhibitors at trade shows coast to coast for over 40 years. I have also been on the college circuit drawing on campuses.Two Presidents have sat for me. I have drawn Governors, Senators, Congressmen, and even Royalty.I have several companies that book me for all of their shows for over 15 years.

It is interesting to see this lecture on how to succeed as an artist at the age of 71. My career since art school has included being an art director for NBC, lawn mower mechanic, jewelry designer and model maker in NYC, book illustrator, furniture designer and builder for private clients, woodcarver, landscape painter, and TV camera man. I was always looking for a wide variety of work to get into because I've always subscribed to the idea that being diversified in ones abilities allows success in different circumstances. During all of the trials and tribulations in each of these working experiences, I've always maintained a good attitude about what I was doing at the time and have enjoyed what life has to offer. In my opinion, it's all about attitude and knowing what brings true happiness to one's life, not having a big house, fancy car or a yacht tied up at the dock.

You just answered most of the questions that's been eating my head from years!!! Thank you so much for this video Paul!!! 

I feel energized by your words "life experiences are often greater than formal education" best advice ever and may apply to many ...

Priceless knowledge that applies to writers too. Thanks, Paul.

Thank you so much for sharing this. Really needed to hear this. So on the money.

the first question from the art student is a huge reason many artists do not succeed. The financial issue is ALWAYS in the forefront so the focus of needing money to pay off student loans and, well, to be able to live (including eating sometimes). So what ends up happening are two things - they become art teachers or they take day jobs which require time - both of which take away the time of their art-making and artist career building. As an artist working for over 20 something years, what I have seen of the ones who do succeed is some form of financial backing whether from their spouses or elsewhere so that the artists can then take the time to focus on their art career. As for me, I took a day job as an artists' model which does not give me an annual income of which I could live alone but it keeps me in the art scene and allows me time to work on my career. Luckily, I do have a roof over my head and a husband with a "real job". Still, as I get older, the reality of my bleak financial future becomes ever so present.

" It's all about relationships. Believing  what you are doing is valuable"....I enjoy this talk very much and gave me some good insight...Thank you Paul!

Tremendous talk here. I may be revisiting this as the years wear on.