We get hundreds of press releases and gallery opening notices every week at The Artist's Magazine, and most of them get recycled or deleted. A lot of them just aren't pertinent, or they're happening too soon in the future for us to do anything with them (see some tips that I mentioned earlier about creating great press releases). And sometimes, the press release doesn't look that great—like if it's just a black-and-white photocopy that doesn't include any images of the art. Or, even worse, if there are tiny black-and-white reproductions of the art that don't tell me anything.
But
some mailings grab my attention fast—ones that include good color photos, that are
simple and to-the-point or, my personal favorite, ones that have a handmade touch.
Some of these mailings end up tacked to my wall long after the event has passed. Like
the ones above from the Tilton Gallery in
New York. I've never been to the Tilton Gallery, but I am totally collecting their
gallery show promos (shown above). Each mailer is a simple, thick white card with
a one- or two-color letterpress design.Another came just last week, a promo for the 1000 Journals Project at the San Francisco MOMA you can see at right. On the front is an image from one of the artists, along with a screenprinted logo and stitching along the bottom. It's so precious I couldn't bear to toss it!
Below you can see a closeup of the back, which shows with a check which artist the image on the front side is by, and a closeup of the embossed SFMOMA logo. Awesome!
Everyday
at The Artist's Magazine we receive a cascade of mail. Readers compliment and
sometimes complain; artists send queries or postcards announcing shows; publishers
send review copies of books; societies and galleries send catalogues, etc. The other
day, however, I received a disc of images and an accompanying artist's statement that
were extraordinary.
doings."
