How to Get Hung: A Practical Guide for Emerging Artists

Library Journal

This unusual title refers to the process by which artists obtain gallery space in which to exhibit and sell their works. Barnes is an experienced gallery owner who has represented a number of well-known artists. In this book, aimed primarily at students and other young artists, she gives tips for dealing with art professionals, preparing and hanging a show and achieving success in the art world. The text is chatty, informal, and sprinkled with anecdotes about art personalities. As a career guide, the book has some interesting insights, but it doesn't have the solid information that books like A Writer's Market give their audiences. It emphasizes public relations and appearances but has very little about business practice-finance, insurace, legal advice, etc. Not an essential purchase for any type of library.-Constance Ashmore Fairchild, Urbana, Ill.

Donna Seaman

Gallery owner and art critic Barnes is refreshingly free of pretension and preciousness in this let's-get-real guide for students and artists hoping to sell their work. Much as she understands the spiritual and aesthetic forces that motivate artists, she sticks to practical matters. One of her first suggestions is that anyone planning on showing their work to gallery owners must have at least a dozen pieces related by theme, media, or scale. Gallery owners must be wooed, Barnes declares, and, as in any courtship, everything counts, from your appearance--remember this is a visual world: you'd better look good, no, make that interesting--to your ability to speak intelligently yet succinctly about your themes and approach to materials. Barnes offers plenty of sane and sensible guidelines for preparing for studio visits, evaluating agreements with galleries, selecting work for shows, and helping with installation and promotion. Her efficiency and feistiness make it all seem possible, which is what aspiring artists really want to hear.