Sometimes art, Tom Wolfe observed, is a "mating ritual."
Your portfolio is less about your art than about making money from your art. If you're aiming for a show in a major art market -- Santa Fe, New York or Los Angeles, for example -- you'll need more than your dozen favorite gouaches in a big, leather case. You'll also need an artist's statement, a r sum , a logo, business cards, large photos of your work, custom stationery and a self-promoting DVD, all beautifully arranged in a custom presentation folder that you can force into a gallery manager's hand. You'll also want to carry around a portfolio case with original examples of your work.
Instructions
1. Write an artist's statement. This statement should be a one-page essay, written in the first person, that explains your artistic ideas, how you express them and your grandest goals.
2. Design a logo and incorporate that logo into the design of a business card, custom stationery and a custom 9-by-12-inch presentation folder. Both the cards and the folders must include your contact information. Have the cards and the presentation folders printed professionally.
3. Write a r sum that summarizes your life experiences, academic training and artistic successes.
4. Print your r sum and artist's statement on your custom stationery. Put a business card, a copy of your artist's statement and a copy of your r sum in each folder.
5. Photograph all your art with a digital camera and print out all the images in both black and white and in color. Pick at least 12 images that show the range of your work and look great as photographs. Print 8-by-10-inch copies of those images on good photo paper, and put sets of them in each presentation folder.
6. Produce a 5-minute video of yourself working at your art and talking about you and your art. Duplicate your video on video discs that have your name, logo and contact information printed on them. Put a disc in each presentation packet.
7. Buy a good-quality leather 23-by-31-inch artist's portfolio case. Keep presentation packets and extra video discs and business cards in one of the portfolio pockets.
8. Create works on paper, foam, masonite and board specifically for your portfolio. Create works you know you can do well; create images of the same subject or scene in multiple styles and media.
9. Put the works you create specifically for your portfolio, and any of your favorite works that will fit, in the other pocket of your portfolio case.
