Planning Art PR Campaigns In Preparation For Exhibitions

Case Study
Contemporary Visual Artist Brian Parker
Planning Art PR Campaigns In Preparation For Exhibitions

Building momentum towards an artist’s solo show is an exciting and challenging campaign to organise for any art PR consultant. Contemporary visual artist Brian Parker’s London exhibition  ‘The Journey So Far… It’s All About Me’ consisted of a show exhibiting a collection of 39 pieces from Brian’s work,  as a result of the last ten years of painting every day. A record of the themes and  obsessions  that he chose to paint  included people, places & dancers and visited locations from Brian’s life. ‘ I am driven by the need to appeal to the visual sense of my viewers, so the aesthetic impact it has on the viewer is more important to me than any particular theme’…..

Creating a buzz around an artist through their PR campaign is vital , as each piece of press is reaching out to a new audience of potential buyers and collectors and raising the artist profile. Even if large sales do not always materialise at the show do not be disheartened as this show and surrounding art PR can have an ongoing effect way after the show, especially if this is maximised with follow up ongoing PR. This is also a time to capitalise on the show and the contacts made whether through gallery contacts, visiting guests through PR campaigns or even those passing the exhibition.

Contemporary Visual Artist Brian Parker

Artist Brian Parker’s London Exhibition

Press is achieved through both local and national PR features in a drip feed timeline manner and of course through social media, whether this be twitter, facebook or most especially Instagram, a great feed for visual art images and stories, which can build the excitement of the show. However to manage this PR an artist must explore what makes him unique and be willing to honestly open up about his influences, style and life to enable the best press release.

Brian’s London solo show had a build up of art PR through regional features and interviews discussing his work, influences, style and ambitions. Nearer the event the publicity became more focused on the local press to the exhibition location, through blogs, social media and local media with radio and wherever possible TV too. With so many artists out there competing for press in the art world, creative disciplines from fine art to photography to conceptual art and so much exciting talent – achieving successful PR campaigns is a challenging area but it is important to try and focus on the unique – why is this artist different? What is unique? Why would this artist be of interest for art previews and reviews?  All these questions need to be considered in the most positive light and answered for the press releases to make it simple and clear to journalists that this artist is indeed worth writing about to publicise their exhibition. Clear, honest exciting press releases, highlighting why a particular artist is worth the time, money and investment are key firstly to attract the journalists and if successful then of course to attract the potential collector!