At what point do you start and stop being an emerging artist? Many artists remain in the ‘emerging’ category all of their lives in spite of a sustained practice and sales and some never attain that status at all.  One definition suggests that an emerging artist is someone who’s in the early stage of their career, someone who’s caught the eye of an art critic and/or gallery but hasn’t yet established a solid reputation as an artist amongst art critics, art buyers, and art galleries.  It would seem that age is a factor, erroneously or not, in that young artists labelled as “emerging” artists may be nothing of the kind depending on experience. It’s not enough to have been awarded a prize at a graduating exhibition or to have hung a solo show. Nor does repeating that limited success in the hope of sustained prestige. Novelty value soon diminishes into the ether as does the single idea deriving from adolescence or the latest fad.

However, of the three elements of the above definition, which ones are viable in 2021?

Where are the art critics of today? A Clement Greenberg not just defining Abstract Expressionism but giving it a living identity through artist choice and critical writing is an anachronism of the past. Movements with clearly delineated edges are also a thing of the past. Perhaps today’s equivalent is the Curator and the number of young graduate curators in Adelaide is testament to the growing presence of this critical group. In a wider sphere there are the equivalents of a Perspecta taking the temperature of the art world but how many of these curated shows would you need to be part of to be considered as ‘emerging’?

Art galleries are another question entirely. The gallery with its stable of a dozen successful, saleable artists is a thing of the past and given the ethos of current galleries who may look for competition winners or specialise in a specific area, the power of such galleries may be waning. There are certainly some powerhouse galleries in the world as there are powerhouse auction houses but to take on an emerging artist would still be a financial risk let alone an artist still at the beginning. It all comes down to dollars.

The art buyer would seem to be the logical step and increasingly buyers are bypassing he gallery system and going straight to the artist website/facebook page/Instagram site in the hope of getting in on the ground floor in terms of price. [Delphian 2020] That puts the onus squarely back on the artist to be a business manager, establish a pricing regime and deal with the logistics of online sales. It is essentially a closed loop.

Given this scenario, at which point does and artist achieve ‘emerging’. Extensive sales may count for nothing given the lowest common denominator of the shopping trolley. The suggestion is that when in doubt, group in the “Emerging Artist” section more as a sign of intent than achievement. Many artists will remain in this nebulous, grey category for their entire careers and still have a successful, busy, and healthy studio practice and lifestyle. In that case where does the endorsement of the ‘establishment’ derive from?

A Sydney artist Nadia Odlum doesn’t define herself by the term ‘emerging’, but says that artist-run spaces attract artists who want permission to experiment and not to be tied to a gallery or a commercial audience. She is thus able to focus on building relationships with other artists in partnership with artist-run spaces [AGNSW 2015]. For Odlum, selling her work is not a top priority – in fact none of the work in her past four shows has been for sale.a She feels that the opportunity to exhibit and engage with audiences about her themes is more important than developing a buying audience. She, like many other contemporary artists, supports herself through grants and by working variously across cultural institutions. Odlum’s choice and consequent experimentation with different materials and mediums is another aspect of emerging-ness, demonstrating the drive and constant desire to explore and exploit non-traditional art materials and everyday objects. Endorsement comes not from sales but selective grants and residencies.

‘However infinitive the term, the emerging artist is linked indelibly to both the product and processes of our cultural futures’ [ibid]

The term ‘career’ is also an interesting one. Alongside ‘emerging’, go ‘mid-career’ and ‘mature’ Each of these are based on the idea of commercial sales or ironically of lack of supply. It helps to be dead to achieve mid-career status or even mature status. To be considered a mid-career artist, you must have received national or international recognition through “Publication” or “Public Presentation” of your work – after that it’s a matter of investment sales. I can think of any number of artists about whom reams were written who have ceased to be mentioned in the annals. At one point George Baldessin was considered to be on a par with Brett Whitely but his name is seldom heard these days and he is at best a footnote without an extant publication to his name.

So, what is the answer? For the artist who can sustain themselves on grants and fellowships, experimentation and continual onward development is the key to ‘emerging’. In the sales department, it is sheer volume of sales and investibility. The world is changing. Labels, although sometimes useful, are becoming less relevant as the model for career shifts and morphs.

Murphy B, Thompson JS Navigating the Art world, Delphian 2020

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