12 Pieces of Advice for Aspiring Artists from Award-Winning Middle Eastern Visual Artist Farshido

Award-winning Middle Eastern visual artist Farshido enlists 12 useful tips and practical advice to making art, making connections, making sales and making money for a struggling, emerging or any sort of artist.

“I believe that the best ideas will come at the right time, with the right material and match up in a perfect outcome. I do not believe in tying oneself as an artist to one specific art style or material. For me, concept and material follow inspiration and ideas, not the other way around.” said Farshido

TIP NO.1: TAKE THE JOB

Don’t be one of those cliché art school kids who considers himself above the idea of art as a commodity. Take the commercial work. Take the design work. Do the band’s poster for $20 and a six-pack. Do whatever it takes to be able to call yourself a working artist. It’s a noble title, regardless of the particulars.

TIP NO.2: BE PATIENT

To come to this ‘perfect outcome’, I use fine techniques and patience. Patience for finding the right materials and collecting the objects that are special or useful like wandering around flea markets and collecting old knick-knacks to make a use of them later on. However, up until there is no specific idea in mind I put them aside and wait for an idea or an inspiration, or a magical sparkle of moment that an idea begins to form . Then, I opt for a collage, assemblage, drawing, conceptual art, installation, video or whatever my medium suits the idea best.

TIP NO.3: STAY CONNECTED

Your best connections are your peers. Stay in contact with them. Be curious. Visit other artist’s studios and add like-minded people to your mailing list.

TIP NO.4: GAIN NEW PERSPECTIVE

Gaining perspective by observing your practice amongst a field of others, and the culture and time in which it is done, is a career goal that follows a wide arc. It is not the sole responsibility of your art dealer, for example, to place your work in cultural context, nor should you allow this without your input.

TIP NO.5: HAVE AN IDENTITY

Aim to have people recognize your work in a crowded room … to know immediately that it’s undeniably yours is the best compliment you will ever receive.

TIP NO.6: IT IS A JOB

When I’m talking with younger artists I stress that making, exhibiting and selling art in a commercial gallery is just like any other job one hopes to be successful at. It means working hard, honoring deadlines and trusting your co-workers to do their jobs well too.

TIP NO.7: SURPRISE YOURSELF

My inspiration comes from daily life and all the surprises that it brings along. Personally, I like surprises… That’s why I like to keep surprising myself and others with my artworks.

TIP NO.8: DO NOT RUSH

Don’t raise your prices too fast because once they are up, you should not lower them.

TIP NO.9: ALWAYS BE INSPIRED

Feed your output with as much input (books, lectures, films, leisure, rest) as you can handle, and in some cases, more than you can manage.

TIP NO.10: KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE AND YOUR INSPIRATIONS CLOSER

Now there are endless images at your fingertips, but you need to find the ones that awaken your creativity and keep them near to you. Sometimes it can be something blurry and vague ... I have this one little scrap of paper with a very low-res image of a kitten’s face on it, and something about it makes me come back to it again and again, trying to capture something elusive about it. When you find an image like that, hold onto it like it was gold.

TIP NO.11: DIGITALIZE

You don’t need business cards. You do need a website and a social media account.

TIP NO.12: GO OUTSIDE

Stay deeply connected to what’s going on in your own art world. Under no circumstances isolate yourself in the studio with a solitary practice, thinking you’re some kind of lone wolf or Van Gogh.