Customer Reviews

Art & Reality: The New Standard Reference Guide and Business Plan for Actively Developing Your Career As an Artist

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I, unfortunatly, bought this book in a school store, and therefore paid too much, but the information contained within this book is well worth the expense. Abbott gives great advice about getting your career going in some unusual, "back door" ways that most students as well as artists have probobly never thought of. There is a long section of contacts, great ideas on funding and sponsorship, as well as some rather humbling advice when it comes to our field. Most of us want to start out in the world with a good job and a fairly well planned future, this book is a great tool for achieveing those goals, and a reliable source for new directions when all else fails.

I'm surprised there haven't been more reviews on this book. This is one of my favorite Art Business books.

The books begins with an artist evaluation which I found very helpful a few years back when I first read this book. It really helps the artist to take a realistic look at where they are both philosophically and in their career.

The fourth chapter is also helpful for the uninitiated. It briefly covers a wide aray of different marketplaces for artists. one things that I particulary like about this book is that it openly acknowledges the differences between "Fine Artists" or "academic" artists and "decorative" or "commercial" artists. Different opportunities or more appropriate for one type than the other. This si a distinction that many books on this subject ignore.

Abbott's chapters "Developing Your Presentation Materials" and "Targeting Prospective Venues" are also quite helpful. The one complaint I have about the book is the focus on the Print Market. This is a great market for many artists and he does a very good job of covering the market. For many this is a good thing. But, since it is not a market to which my work readily lends itself I thought it was a bit much. But, mostly I thought the coverage betrayed the authors bias as at the time he wrote this book he was involved with a company that published art work. Still despite his bias all the information he gives is good and useful.

Overall this is a very good book which I am surprised has not gotten more attention.