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

Hi Joseph, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

When trying to start my fine art career I soon realized that having some business acumen was going to be crucial to my success. Many artists have skill ,but some idea of business and marketing would prove to be vital in growing my business. I also understood that partnering with the best galleries and representatives of my work would aid in getting my work in front of the right collectors and people of influence.
If I where to re do anything it would be to allow myself to think outside the box more in my early days, and to utilize multiple avenues to generate interest in my work, targeting the appropriate demographic for my work.

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 back background and context?

I was recruited while i was in art school by the largest greeting card company in the world to design and illustrate cards. After a ten year career working for them, I decided to explore the world of getting my own personal work into art galleries. I took initiative to research and contact galleries that I felt would be appropriate for my work.
After a while I was contacted by several galleries and my fine art career began. I took care to try to partner with the most ethical and professional galleries that had the best reputation.
My galleries helped to promote and market my work. Eventually my work acquired a number of followers and magazine articles and other press followed all building towards establishing myself to where I am today in my field.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As an artist I can attest that one of the main factors of my success was my determination to succeed and to remain steadfast in my vision and belief in myself and my abilities. On many occasions I was offered opportunities that I didn’t think would benefit me in the long run and had enough belief in my eventual success to pass on them, usually this would serve me well.
Often artists are desperate to make progress or are inpatient in getting to their goals and take whatever offer they are given, while I of course wanted to succeed, I also knew that I wanted to be in this career for a long time and had to be sure to position myself and make the choices based on that.
On one occasion in my early days, I had some one make an offer to buy a painting but wanted to pay much less from what I was asking, I stood my ground, knowing what my time and effort where worth and passed on the opportunity even though I could’ve used to funds at the time. In retrospect It served me well to stand by my conviction as the value of my work has grown considerably since.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I can’t say the was a single resource that I wished I knew about. What I would say is that I wished I took more chances and not be afraid of rejection. As a matter of fact I eventually took rejection as fuel to continue on and be resolute in my belief in myself.
In fact, I tell students and young aspiring artists that I keep a file of old rejection letters as a reminder of my journey, and to remind myself that rejection is an important part of any growth process.
I would of sought out as many resources or sources of knowledge and mentorship that I could and to not be afraid of failure.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.josephlorussofineart.com
• Instagram: @lorussoarts
• Facebook: Joseph Lorusso Fine Art
• Youtube: Joseph Lorusso Fine Art

Image Credits

Joseph Lorusso all rights reserved