Best Matej Tomazin Podcasts (2024)

1
Chatting with Oreet Ashrey about the art world 36:34

4+ y ago36:34

36:34

After a (too) long hiatus, we're back with a conversation with performance and conceptual artist Oreet Ashrey, and we chatted about the art world, not being boxed up as an artist and how there actually was a time when being an artist was considered as being an affluent individual! Her website: http://oreetashery.net…

1
Denis Maksimov about art institutions and the future and power dynamics in contemporary art and society 1:14:26

5y ago1:14:26

1:14:26

Welcome to another very special episode at Surviving Art. We’re doing market research in London as part of a cultural residency, provided by Slovenia’s Ministry of Culture and will be conducting a series of interviews and talks about the art market in London. In the series, I’ll be chatting with book publishers, both emerging and well-established a…

1
Chatting about art school and creativity with Lizzie Reid from Lizzie's Lines 52:26

5y ago52:26

52:26

Welcome to a very special series of episodes at Surviving Art. We’re doing market research in London as part of a cultural residency, provided by Slovenia’s Ministry of Culture and will be conducting a series of interviews and talks about the art market in London. In the series, I’ll be chatting with book publishers, both emerging and well-establis…

1
Getting your story across (Marketing and brand awareness) 14:45

5y ago14:45

14:45

Art is obviously emotional and as such its value is determined absolutely subjectively. The big question though is how, because even though ambivalent, subjectivity can still give us a lot of various starting points to think about our target audience. How people recognise a good story in objects and experiences differs from person to person — that’…

1
Polishing your story (The artist statement) 19:42

5y ago19:42

19:42

Artist statements, even though they might appear like a load of pretentious art-talk (which many of them sadly are), serve a very important purpose: presenting your passion in a bite-sized package, to be easily consumed and understood by the reader or listener (you can, and should know how to pitch them too). But what many of us present as an artis…

1
Story is everything 18:00

5y ago18:00

18:00

Be it online or in person, there’s a lot of competition in the arts. And the fact that the art world is much smaller compared to the world of business, law or medicine, only makes it harder for any one artist to succeed. While everybody online is telling us to “niche down”, and explaining why it’s so important, usually no specific tactics are discl…

1
Pricing your art the right way Part III: Constructing and communicating your price 22:16

5y ago22:16

22:16

In the last two blunders we discussed the importance of calculating ones base expenses and all-around financial needs on a monthly basis and the concept of added value. Today, I’d like to combine the two and take a deeper look into how various models can help us to set fair and consistent prices for our work. First of all, we need to acknowledge a …

1
Pricing your art the right way Part II: Value and Worth 17:29

5y ago17:29

17:29

Oscar Wilde once wrote: “A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.” A true artist therefore should be the exact opposite, but not due to ignorance towards the ever-present concept of money; the real truth of the matter is that putting a price tag on an embodiment of love, hate, reminiscence or longing (and all the…

1
Pricing your art the right way Part I: Expenses and Resources 17:11

5y ago17:11

17:11

Creating a beautiful work of art is hard by itself, but when it comes to putting a price tag on whatever we made, it does tend to get even harder for most of us artistic types. The question for today (and a few future blunders) is therefore: How much is creativity even worth? And today I’d like to share the method that works best for me; and please…

1
Natural and artificial symbols 17:51

5y ago17:51

17:51

Just as with sweeteners and coffee, you have natural and artificial options to spice up your art, too. Both sweeteners and symbols are created by moulding reality to our will, but unlike aspartame and the like, artificial symbols don’t have negative health side effects (unless we count war and propaganda, of course). It does though open up your wor…

1
Art and entertainment 15:08

5y ago15:08

15:08

More and more you see art shows being coupled with support programs that, to an art goer from a couple of decades ago, would resemble more a visit to the local club than an actually gallery — albeit a club that, for whatever reason, seems to also have some “art” on the walls. But why is that?!

1
Art has no purpose, only consequences 17:54

5y ago17:54

17:54

An interesting sentence, uttered by a friend of mine while we were chatting over drinks, was that “Art has no purpose, only consequences.” and these six words really struck a chord with me. In today’s blunder therefore, I’d like to explore this statement, because I think a lot of us may posses a misconstrued understanding about our artistic product…

1
Interview with Amy Whitaker - About the art market, art economy and the business side of art 1:09:16

5y ago1:09:16

1:09:16

Welcome to a very special episode of Surviving Art (done for the 33rd Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana! What makes this one so special are the interests of my guest: Amy Whitaker. She is an assistant professor at NYU with a Masters degree in business as well as a masters in Fine Art. An incredible mix of interests and one of the reasons why I’…

1
How to make art that transforms people 16:10

5y ago16:10

16:10

Creating art is a two step process; first you obviously have to make it, but then you also have to show it and present it to the public, and hopefully leave an impact on the world (preferably for the better). But these two steps could not be further apart in both their methodology and all-around nature. The real problem is that making art is a pred…

1
How to create a system in which your art practice and career can flourish 20:23

5y ago20:23

20:23

A few days ago I had the great pleasure to interview Amy Whitaker (she has an MBA from Yale and an MFA in Painting from Slade University — an incredible mix!).She is also an associate professor at NYU and the author of two very interesting books: Museum Legs and Art Thinking. Our conversations and her writing got me thinking about my own exploratio…

1
Why playing by the rules is sometimes imperative for creative progress 20:57

5y ago20:57

20:57

A wonderful quote of which the author eludes me even after 5 min of thorough Google searching goes like this: “Life is a game. You can be a player or a toy.” And the question I’d like to pose today is: How does making your own rules, and sometimes even completely rejecting the already established ones, that our environment proposes, impact our pers…

1
How to build a good foundation for your creativity 18:00

5y ago18:00

18:00

When we think about creativity and inspiration, we might picture an image of a spirit, a muse, that comes forth from the heavens and touches us in funny places at the most random of times imaginable. But these moments aren’t random, and there really is no extraterrestrial or divine power fondling our brains. It’s all an illusion, a misunderstanding…

1
Form and function — The never-ending search for meaning and purpose 16:26

5y ago16:26

16:26

To be frank, all comments on either the meaning or purpose of anything are irrelevant in the grander scheme of things, because all are but a form of ideology, a kind of software that runs in our minds if you will, and contrary to common belief that humans are nothing more than complex Turing machines, no programs are actually alike. What I believe …

1
Is this art? 17:36

5y ago17:36

17:36

Countless figures throughout history have tried to explain this incredibly complex question: What is art? And more importantly, what isn’t art? But still the institutions have no real answer, no common ground upon which they could define a normative of what defines art. Brut art is a problem, so are other outsider artists, and home schooled creativ…

1
On finding your place and making a stand 24:29

5y ago24:29

24:29

People have two intrinsic desires; to know themselves and to find a place in their environment. We constantly search for better ways, a clearer image of who we are and continuously try to place that projection of ourselves into society and our environment at large. But a lot of us make a grave mistake when conducting our search. A mistake we might …

1
The trap of mastering a craft 12:57

5y ago12:57

12:57

They say we are born as empty slates, pure white canvases onto which life leaves its marks and in the end produces a singular, unique imprint of colours, shapes and forms. While this may or may not be true, today I would like to think about the process itself. Also, I would like to inform all of you, that the daily blog will go through a few change…

1
Art Commissions - Selling Art or Selling Out 11:54

5y ago11:54

11:54

Let's stop with this romantic preposition that one hears all to often when talking with artists in academia. We go through a list of 8 steps to keep in mind when creating a commissioned work.

1
Determining the value of your art — Creating attention 5:16

5y ago5:16

5:16

Art is emotional and as such its value is determined absolutely subjectively. The big question though is how, because even though ambivalent, subjectivity can still give us a lot of various starting points to calculate value from. It’s all about perceived value though — not that the actual value of materials in a work or the hours we spend aren’t i…

1
What’s my worth in society 6:02

5y ago6:02

6:02

I have struggled with this question for years. Not only with figuring out the value that I can provide to society, but the value I have for myself. But, even though you can find blueprints of how to build an atomic bomb online, answers to the question: “How do I fit in with society?” remained elusive, almost non-existent. The problem wasn’t that no…

1
Museums and galleries need fresh talent 5:47

5y ago5:47

5:47

A lot of us may think that artists are the only ones in the art world that are struggling with the changes, happening via social media platforms, online sales platforms and other PR, marketing and advertising related content, that now have to be made in addition to the work we do in our studio, but it’s actually a global phenomena.…

1
The importance of critiques 5:12

5y ago5:12

5:12

Jasper Johns’ first show at the Castelli gallery was an enormous success for the artist and started off his career in an unprecedented way. But they exact method used by Leo Castelli (one of the biggest galleries to have ever walked the streets of New York) was remarkable and incredibly simple at the same time.…

1
The problem with large artworks 5:32

5y ago5:32

5:32

I have been noticing a lot of my peers creating exclusively museum sized artworks and/or installations, but most of them are failing to ever sell a piece they make. And sure, large works do have their place — a lot of my work is on the larger side because, to be honest, making it smaller would diminish its narrative powers. But the reality is, almo…

1
I don’t want to show my art, because people will copy my work 6:02

5y ago6:02

6:02

One of my early mentors in the arts once told me a story about her artist friend that used to come by her studio and show a lot of interest in her work. He actually showed a lot of interest for every one of the local artist’s works and was a regular visitor to their studios too. Just a friendly nosy guy. It was a nice chat and after their conversat…

1
Technology is disrupting the arts, and we’re only seeing the beginning 6:02

5y ago6:02

6:02

First it came for the hotel businesses, then the taxi drivers and food delivery services, the radio stations and telecommunication providers. It’s coming for all of us in the arts too. But there’s a good thing about the transition that is yet to come, that especially pertains to us artists. The wonderful news is that it’s not coming for us — it’s t…

1
The religion of the contemporary art world — Part III 4:50

5y ago4:50

4:50

To tie together the previous two blogs, I want to discuss what is in my opinion the highest and most complex function that art has in human society — the artificial creation of the experience of the sublime.

1
The religion of the contemporary art world — Part II 5:24

5y ago5:24

5:24

Various sources state, that about 10% of people worldwide are either not part of any religion or agnostic, and a big chunk of these people are full-blown atheists. But, while these numbers are about as precise as if the statisticians had gotten them from a local ultimate pub trivia night; the one thing that is absolutely for certain is that whateve…

1
The religion of the contemporary art world — Part I 6:04

5y ago6:04

6:04

Religions have defined cultures and people since the beginning of time; man time, not time time — unless you ask a theologian. They will tell you that both are pretty much the same and that ancient man rode dinosaurs and made babies the same way sponges do; asexually through budding. This is when a small piece of sponge is broken off but is still a…

1
In the beginning, there really wasn’t any art 6:18

5y ago6:18

6:18

Contrary to common belief, art is not a material thing. There are no traits that an object has to posses to be deemed a work of art. But, that doesn’t mean that art does not need to be embodied in an object.

1
A game of perspectives 6:10

5y ago6:10

6:10

At its core, art is an experience. And like all human experiences, it’s created through perspectives — so the idea that 100 people will see 100 different things in the same work of art, probably doesn’t come as a shocker to any one of us.

1
How random crap can become art — An overture 5:31

5y ago5:31

5:31

This is not a social commentary folks, so for anyone expecting a rant on all the junk that gets sold off as artistic masterpieces; I’m sorry to disappoint you, this is not the point of today’s blog. But that’s not to say I don’t have a book’s worth of it, waiting patiently to be distributed over time on various social channels, preferably in text-b…

1
Your art is a vessel for ideas 5:25

5y ago5:25

5:25

The tag word today is ideology; every piece of art has its own story and thus its own bit of ideology infused into it. And the main question for all of us artists is: “How can we either become part of an already established ideology, or even how to make our own?” The point of this is quite straightforward and based upon an interesting phenomenon th…

1
Your art defines your customer 5:29

5y ago5:29

5:29

The kind of art we produce has an enormous effect on the end customer we attract; pretty flower paintings will attract people that like flowers. But this does not translate directly; some of them are much fonder of pretty flowers and may be specific about which kind of flower is deemed pretty and which isn’t. And even when getting the type, colour,…

1
Not all artists are the same 5:31

5y ago5:31

5:31

I guess most of us don’t become artists, but end up artists. What I mean by this is that as the kids that grow up in an engineer household, filled with technical models, equations and maths, can end up loving physics as much — if not more — than their parents, they ultimately have no control over the fact that they were born into such an environmen…

1
Novelty and consistency in art 7:13

5y ago7:13

7:13

There are a few companies that really know what they’re doing — even if we don’t agree with their products, their models of how to sell said products are the best in the world — and we artists can really learn a lot from studying them.

1
The biggest trap of selling your art directly 3:31

5y ago3:31

3:31

The internet, especially social media, have given us an incredible tool — we can now potentially reach anyone in the world. If before you had to go through all the gatekeepers of the art world, now you can do everything yourself and have full control over every aspect of your art, including profits. But it does come with a price and it’s probably n…

1
What if you’re not a great sales person? 5:07

5y ago5:07

5:07

There is a wonderful analogy used at the beginning of the book The E-Myth by Michael Gerber, where the author describes any entrepreneur as a company of three strongly distinct individuals: the entrepreneur, the operator/manager and the technician/craftsperson. When we start to offer our skills and services to others, we inevitably become all three…

1
Do you have a gallery-oriented mindset and pricing model 7:11

5y ago7:11

7:11

Just like Ferrari and Honda don’t use the same pricing model for their products, we artists have to differentiate between two distinct ways to approach our prices. Depending on whether we aim to have a go at the gallery system or sell our art directly, we need to adjust our behaviour to fit either one of the markets demands. Today I want to talk ab…

1
The importance of keeping track of our work 4:49

5y ago4:49

4:49

Being an artist is a full-time job and then some; creativity doesn’t just come on its own and setting up a routine for us to be able to create day in and day out takes a lot of effort. And so does marketing and taking pictures and writing applications for open calls and all the other stuff we do. But there may be an aspect of our job that a lot of …

1
How to increase the value and price of an artwork 6:10

5y ago6:10

6:10

As tastes in art are incredibly subjective, the value of any particular piece can seem like it has been decided upon on a whim. But while this may even be true for many a piece of art being sold today, there are many factors that can be defined and influence the value and as such, the price of our art.…

1
The value that art can provide to our customers 6:18

5+ y ago6:18

6:18

Knowing who to sell to and what their needs are is crucial; too many artists struggle with not knowing who their target group is or what they want. While we might think that portraits are for everybody (I mean, the majority of people I know have a face and therefore can be potential customers), the reality actually is much more complex, when demand…

1
Pricing your work - value-based pricing 5:31

5+ y ago5:31

5:31

Up until this point, we have been discussing pricing as a one-sided equation of how much I as an artist need to get, to pay for whatever my lifestyle or other financial requirements are. But sales are never just a one-sided discussion — a deal always has to have two sides. And while of course it’s imperative to find a good place to set-up our side …

1
Pricing your work - Project based pricing 5:15

5+ y ago5:15

5:15

We’ve talked about setting our prices by the hour and calculating them via size and base fees, and now it’s time to tie it all together and talk about project based pricing. What I mean by this is the way we present our prices to our customers; the easiest and most straightforward way is to just add all of our expenses, base fees and pricing model …

1
Pricing your work - Does size matter? 6:52

5+ y ago6:52

6:52

Cars can sometimes be confusingly used to extend ones, well, let’s call it perception of self to be kind. Art on the other hand, cannot only provide us with a symbolic extension — sometimes it’s even made in the literal shape of one. But today’s podcast is not so much about sizing-up as it is about putting a price tag on it, so brace yourselves, be…

1
Pricing your art - The hourly-based model 6:04

5+ y ago6:04

6:04

In yesterday’s podcast, I discussed the importance of calculating ones base expenses and all-around financial needs on a yearly basis, and today we’re going to look at one of the most popular but potentially most problematic ways of determining how much our art is actually worth. This model has a lot going for it — especially for anyone starting ou…

1
Story is Everything - A conversation about art with Michelle Lloyd from United Art Space 1:21:24

5+ y ago1:21:24

1:21:24

Story is Everything is a booklet I prepared for United Art Space and in this podcast, Michelle and I discuss the importance of storytelling, narrative and context in art. And, if you like to get to know more about Michelle's project United Art Space, here are the links: United Art Space Website, United Art Space Facebook, United Art Space Instagram…

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