The Artist

Roos van der Jagt
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What does an artist’s life really look like before the exhibition opens? This podcast goes behind the finished work: the doubt, money, discipline, negotiations, ambition, technology, authorship and survival. As I prepare for exhibitions and photography fairs, I document the decisions in real time. No masterclass. No highlight reel. Just the process, unfiltered. Think of it as a studio door left slightly open.

  1. 1d ago

    Episode 28 — Make Yourself Impossible to Ignore

    How do you become visible as an artist without losing authenticity, exaggerating your achievements, or turning your entire practice into marketing? In this episode, we explore why talented artists often wait too long to present themselves confidently. They wait for gallery representation, institutional recognition, press coverage, or permission from someone with authority—while the world remains unaware of the work they have already created. We discuss artist visibility, self-promotion, personal branding, pitching creative work, and building recognition through repetition. Being visible across websites, social media, exhibitions, films, newsletters, competitions, and professional networks does not make an artist unfocused when the connection between the work remains clear. This episode also reclaims “fake it until you make it” as professional preparation rather than deception: creating the portfolio, biography, pitch, and public presence before external validation is complete. It means presenting real achievements with confidence, asking for opportunities, and refusing to minimise work that deserves a public life. For visual artists, filmmakers, photographers, designers, musicians, writers, and multidisciplinary creatives who want to become more recognisable without becoming a full-time content creator. Visibility does not guarantee success. But people cannot remember, recommend, support, or commission work they never encounter. Show the work. Name what you have achieved. Explain what you are building. Give the world enough opportunities to recognise you.

  2. Sep 29

    Episode 27 — Build Your Own Market

    How can artists build a direct audience and sell their work without depending entirely on galleries, agents, art fairs, online platforms, or social-media algorithms? In this episode, we explore how artists can create a sustainable market through their own website, mailing list, social media, studio visits, professional network, and direct relationships with collectors and supporters. A website alone is not a market. Social-media visibility is temporary. Followers are not automatically buyers. Building a market means creating recognition, trust, and a clear path from discovering the work to learning more, making contact, or purchasing it. We discuss the importance of keeping your artist website, biography, portfolio, exhibitions, awards, prices, and available work up to date. We also look at direct art sales, newsletters, audience building, secure payments, shipping, different price levels, editions, prints, and the difference between having an audience and having a real market. This episode is for visual artists, photographers, filmmakers, designers, and other creative professionals who want to become less dependent on gatekeepers without rejecting galleries, agencies, or online marketplaces completely. Building your own market does not mean doing everything alone. It means owning enough of the relationship with your audience that your visibility can continue when a platform, exhibition, algorithm, or professional partner moves on.

  3. Sep 22

    Episode 26 — Know the Value of Your Work

    How do you price your art without undervaluing yourself, confusing price with self-worth, or damaging the future of your practice? In this episode, we explore the difference between personal worth, artistic value, and market price. Pricing art is not a simple formula. It is shaped by materials, time, experience, exhibition history, demand, commissions, production costs, previous sales, professional context, and the kind of artistic career you want to build. We discuss why setting prices too low can make future growth difficult, why higher prices are not automatically more professional, and how inconsistent discounts across galleries, art fairs, online platforms, and your own website can weaken trust. The episode also looks at artwork editions, smaller accessible pieces, commissions, sales records, market research, and the importance of keeping your artist biography, portfolio, exhibitions, awards, and achievements up to date. This is for visual artists, photographers, filmmakers, designers, and other creative professionals who want to sell their work without allowing buyers, platforms, galleries, or fear to define its value entirely from the outside. Knowing the value of your work does not mean choosing the highest possible price. It means setting a price that is informed, coherent, sustainable, and strong enough to support the future of your practice.

  4. Sep 15

    Episode 25 — Selling Through Someone Else’s Platform

    What really happens when an artist sells work through an online art platform, agency, or marketplace? Platforms such as Saatchi Art can offer international visibility, professional presentation, payment systems, and access to buyers an artist might not reach alone. But they can also take commission, apply large discounts, control communication, and leave the artist responsible for packaging, shipping, insurance, customs, returns, and possible damage. In this episode, we examine the true cost of selling art through someone else’s platform. We look at the difference between being listed and being represented, between the price shown to the buyer and the amount the artist actually receives, and between gaining access to a market and giving away control over your work. We also discuss consistent artwork pricing, keeping your artist profile and exhibition history up to date, protecting your market position, and understanding what happens when the same work appears across several websites, galleries, or sales channels. This episode is for visual artists, photographers, designers, galleries, and creative professionals navigating online art sales, artist agencies, commissions, discounts, shipping, insurance, and international collectors. An online platform may expand your reach. But it should never make you a stranger to the price, conditions, logistics, or value of your own work.

  5. Sep 8

    Episode 24 — It Is Not a Sale Until It Is Paid For

    When does interest in an artwork become an actual sale? At exhibitions, studio visits, openings, and art fairs, artists often hear enthusiastic promises: “I love this,” “Do not sell it to anyone else,” or “Consider it sold.” Those words can feel like recognition, relief, and financial confirmation. But admiration, purchase intention, and a verbal promise are not the same as a completed transaction. In this episode, we explore the emotional and professional gap between someone saying they want to buy art and the moment payment is actually received. We look at the social atmosphere of art openings, the performance of being a collector, the uncertainty of reservations, and the financial consequences of treating enthusiasm as certainty too soon. We also discuss why invoices, deposits, written agreements, and clear deadlines do not make an artist less creative or less trusting. Professional clarity protects the artwork, the relationship with the buyer, and the artist’s income. This episode is for visual artists, photographers, designers, galleries, and creative professionals navigating art sales, collectors, exhibitions, and art fairs. It offers a simple but important distinction: a compliment is not an enquiry, an enquiry is not a reservation, and a reservation is not a sale. Because people may sincerely intend to buy. But until the agreed payment has arrived, the work still belongs to the artist.

  6. Sep 1

    Episode 23 — Art Fairs: The Price of Visibility

    What does it really cost an artist to be visible at an art fair? Art fairs promise exposure, name recognition, collectors, sales, and new professional opportunities. But behind the busy openings, impressive locations, and conversations with visitors lies a commercial structure in which the artist often carries most of the financial risk. In this episode, we examine the true cost of participating in art fairs: entry fees, booth rental, framing, transport, insurance, accommodation, commissions, promotion, installation, and days of unpaid work. We explore the difference between being genuinely selected and being approached as a paying participant—and why an invitation is not automatically proof of artistic recognition. We also discuss pricing your artwork, resisting pressure to offer impulsive discounts, and maintaining consistency across fairs, galleries, collectors, and online platforms. A crowded event is not always the right audience, and visibility is not automatically the same as sales, professional progress, or lasting name recognition. This episode is for visual artists, photographers, designers, galleries, and other creative professionals navigating art fairs and exhibition opportunities. It is not an argument against participating. It is an honest look at who benefits, who takes the risk, and how artists can remain ambitious without becoming invisible within the economics of the art market. Because artists do not simply pay for the opportunity to be seen. Their work, labour, reputation, and audience are part of what makes the art fair valuable in the first place.

  7. Aug 25

    Episode 22 — Growing Older in a World Obsessed With the New

    What happens when an artistic life lasts longer than the attention, promises, and expectations that surrounded its beginning? In this reflective episode, we explore what it means to grow older as an artist in a culture that constantly searches for the next new name. Young artists are often seen through the lens of potential, while older artists are expected to provide evidence: exhibitions, sales, representation, recognition, and a career that appears to have followed a clear upward path. But artistic careers are rarely linear. Success may arrive early and then fade. Institutions change, audiences move on, and the artist who was once described as promising may suddenly find themselves overlooked—even while the work becomes stronger, more precise, and more deeply informed by experience. This episode looks at early success, disappearing visibility, ageism in the arts, nonlinear creative careers, and the long middle of an artistic life. It examines the difference between recognition and continuity, between being celebrated and being sustained, and between public attention and the actual value of the work. For artists, filmmakers, writers, musicians, designers, and other creatives who have ever wondered whether they have missed their moment, this episode offers recognition without false reassurance. Growing older does not place an artist outside the future. It changes the position from which the future—and the work still to be made—is understood.

  8. Aug 18

    Episode 21 — Lowering the Threshold

    What happens when the fear of starting becomes so intense that an artist needs something to make the first mark possible? In this honest and deeply personal episode, we explore the hidden resistance behind the creative process. Painting is not always calming or intuitive. Sometimes beginning feels like exposure—a confrontation with the blank canvas, uncertainty, and the possibility of seeing something reflected back. For a time, alcohol lowered that threshold. It softened hesitation, reduced inhibition, and made it possible to begin. What started as a practical mechanism gradually became part of the creative ritual. But making the work easier to start did not necessarily make the work stronger. This episode examines the tension between access and artistic quality: movement versus precision, lowered resistance versus full presence, and producing work versus creating with complete attention. It reflects on the discovery that the strongest work often emerged not from altered inhibition, but from clarity, control, and a mind that was fully present. This is not an addiction story, a warning, or a moral lesson. It is a compassionate exploration of creative fear, artistic rituals, self-medication, painting, and the complicated methods artists sometimes develop to overcome resistance. For artists and creators who struggle with starting, perfectionism, fear, or creative blocks, this episode offers recognition without judgement—and language for the quiet cost of lowering the threshold.

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About

What does an artist’s life really look like before the exhibition opens? This podcast goes behind the finished work: the doubt, money, discipline, negotiations, ambition, technology, authorship and survival. As I prepare for exhibitions and photography fairs, I document the decisions in real time. No masterclass. No highlight reel. Just the process, unfiltered. Think of it as a studio door left slightly open.

Information

  • Creator
    Roos van der Jagt
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    29
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Roos van der Jagt
  • Show Website
    The Artist