International artists have been more and more prevalent throughout the news. In part, there may be some relation to the general turmoil and conflict in the world and to their emergence through current art news and fine art magazines. Top art magazines have always featured international artists, but there are more ways for them to gain visibility these days.
As part of the mobile “revolution”, anyone can snap a picture of an international artists work and have it appear on various social sharing and social media sites immediately. This allows for greater coverage of the various trends outside the United States and the western art markets.
International artists themselves are also embracing technology as a way to get their artwork out and visible to a wider audience. They plan their own SEO, search engine optimization, campaigns and create buzz through their targeted placements. It makes sense to increase art marketing just as any other business owner tries to increase sales.
For international artists, they face the challenge of distributing their works in other locales. Traditionally, the art gallery was the marketer, distributor and sales organization for international artists. Now they can eliminate the gallery middle man by gaining exposure through blogs and art related sites.
While there is definitely art in the news that drives some visitors to galleries, it is the virtual galleries and marketplaces that have provided the widest distribution. Once someones art work appears on these sites, it is essentially syndicated among friends to exponentially increase exposure.
Besides the image sharing and social marketplaces, international artists have taken to traditional marketing techniques that help with direct sales. For example, an artist can begin to build an audience and using email marketing they can sell exclusively from an email list. They no longer have to prepare works for a public showing other than snap pictures and prepare descriptions for their anxious subscriber list.