We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Caleb Wallace a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Caleb, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Selling artwork is not an easy task. It is a very weird, tricky market. A lot of it has to do with people you know, but also having a product worth selling. Depending on the direction you are goin in can also be factor for example if you were working towards being a commercial artist vs being a fine artist. Also knowing the differences and similarities as well as possibly fitting the role of both. Making artwork can be an expensive task, so you would have to know how to price your work that way you can actually make enough to continue to work. Being able to market yourself properly helps, and finding an audience is very crucial. Outside of all of that you should just remain consistent and keep trying until you find something that works for you.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Caleb Wallace I am a multi-disciplinary artist based in Atlanta, GA. I have always had an interest in the arts, and the fashion scenery growing up. Spending a lot of time paying attention to it, but never really attempting to be in it. By the time I graduated High School I wasn’t sure what I actually wanted to do with myself. I attended Tennessee State University in Nashville, TN to study Architectural Engineering. While attending school I realized I wanted an outlet for myself, which is where I Picked up Graphic Design just for fun. Eventually, staff in the Art Department of my school somehow caught wind of that and encouraged me to leave the Engineering program, and join the Fine Arts program. I was hesitant at first because I really wasn’t sure if it would be something I could make an actual career out of, but over time I found myself more interested. By my second year, I was selected for a joint show between my school and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. That gave me the confidence to continue working, and further my education in Art. Also while I was there I had the opportunity to Intern for the professional sculptor artist Alan Lequire. Working under Alan taught me a lot about presentation, business, consistency, and the gallery world. Unfortunately, my stay in Tennessee had to come to end shortly due to housing difficulties. I moved back to Atlanta to work, and continue my art career. Since I’ve been back I have received an education in Graphic Design from Kennesaw State University and picked up musical production, and I also have a group called “Itsoktobepretty” we have been official for about 3 years now currently working on our second instrumental album that we will be releasing at the end of the year. I have also reenrolled back into school currently attending Georgia Gwinnett College with plans to transfer to Georgia State University for Fabrics & Textiles with another internship under the Alan Avery Art gallery where I was under Benjamin Deaton and Anna King who currently own the Wolfgang Gallery located in Midtown. With that education, I would like to find myself in the Fine Arts world continuing my mixed media paintings and making custom couture fashion pieces. The current projects I am working on are my mixed-media paintings and the instrumental album that ‘Itsoktobepretty” will be dropping soon. The paintings are mixed-media abstract pieces, where I am exploring different layers of abstraction through materials, composition, and color. My focal point is the Colors themselves as I take a lot of inspiration from many Color field-based painters such as Stanley Whitney, Agnes Martin, Frank Stella, Mark Rothko, and many more. I am very excited to finish these pieces and display them to the public via my studio space located at Bankhead.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Nobody cares that you make artwork, or do anything creative. It will take a while for people to actually pay attention or even enjoy what you do. I have been to a ton of artistic environments, and I have met an infinite number of artists and people in the art world. I truly believe you have to keep working, and never give up. Fortunately, there is room in the world today for almost anyone to make money in it, but if you want to hit the big leagues it is going to require a lot of failures. I would know since I am not in the big leagues, and I am still failing. Although I am failing I am also learning, and I feel my work becoming visually stronger and better. In order to continue there is very little time to not create. You will have to make a lot of sacrifices, and lose a lot of sleep. But that is okay because if you want it bad enough then it will be worth it, and if you don’t live long enough to see it then you made the attempt to do so which is also worth it being that many people are scared to actually dive into achieving their dreams. For those who choose to attempt to do so still does not make a guarantee that you will reach. I highly encourage you constantly attempt to do better each time you work on something, as well as critique yourself and hear others. Do not get comfortable there is always something you can do better, and someone else is probably already doing better. It might not even be the technique or execution of the work itself, it could be how you market yourself and the things you do for networking. On the bright side, there is nothing wrong with that or even not being the best, no one expects you to. It’s just what are you going to do to get better and notice what you are doing wrong. Also, how can you make your work more intentional, I believe making your work more intentional will make you an overall better artist in any medium or industry. Make your work speak for itself then people will care, and then they will enjoy it.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Constantly meeting people, and pushing my work. Also educating myself. I am not traditionally educated in anything except for Graphic and Web design, but even before that I was constantly making content without the education, and doing extensive research and reading in every medium and field I have been participating in. Having some kind of understanding of what you’re doing is the only way anyone is going to take you seriously also I feel like you will be taking yourself more seriously if you strive to know as much as possible about the industry you are planning to indulge in.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: free___juice
• Other: websites coming soon.

Image Credits
digital image created by @shinbiiart via Instagram.