The art world has never played by the rules. Part of what makes art so necessary in today’s culture is that the artists behind great works don’t allow themselves to be boxed in by conventionality. They decide how to create, when to create and, ultimately, how to share their work with the world. I believe we’re all artists in our own right, some more creative than others.
Because the art comes first and the business comes second, artists don’t always receive credit for pushing the needle forward when it comes to marketing and sales. Many play by the “if you build it they will come” rule. And while that does work to an extent, many artists also realize that in order to survive as professional artists they have to focus on more than just their creative endeavors — they also have to find new ways to connect with audiences.
My boy Mark Brazil is a lifelong entrepreneur based in Los Angeles and is scheduled to be on the next episode of my Entrepreneur show Action & Ambition. Starting in the fashion world, Brazil built his career around his passion for building brands. Most recently, he helped artists create and distribute their work. He quickly realized that artists in the fashion world faced the same challenges as artists creating paintings, sculptures and photography: with audiences moving online and becoming more dependent on mobile devices, artists and fashion brands alike needed to find new avenues to connect with consumers digitally without sacrificing artistic creativity.
In a direct response to this new age of immediacy and digital experiences, Brazil created Ikonick, an online art gallery, alongside his co-founder Jeff Cole. Despite contemporary artists’ willingness to push the envelope, galleries and art distributors have never been viewed as pioneers in the ecommerce space — and Brazil and his team sought to change that. With Ikonick, their goal is to make it easier for artists to connect with audiences and, conversely, for audiences to find and buy meaningful, and culturally relevant work from today’s artists.
Throughout his tenure as the…
