17 Years to Overnight Success: What Artists Can Learn from Shantell Martin

The Artist Who Said No to the Art World and Won

I like to repost older pieces from time to time—not just because not everyone has read them, but because they often feel just as relevant, if not more so, with time. I’ll be taking some time off next week to visit family, and this felt like the right moment to bring this one back.

This article is from November 2023, originally published under a different title, but it still hits home. I actually read my own writing sometimes for motivation—and revisiting this case study on Shantell Martin reminded me why I wrote it in the first place.

Her journey is not only inspiring—it’s instructive. A real playbook for building an art career brick by brick, without waiting for permission. I know artists sometimes get bent out of shape when we talk about money or business, but Martin is refreshingly upfront about it. Her career is proof that you can stay true to your vision while also building something financially and creatively sustainable.

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Let’s begin with an excerpt from Shantell Martin’s interview in Artnet¹ :

For all the artists that say, “Oh no, I don’t want to talk about money”—either you’re privileged enough not to have to talk about money or you’ve been badly advised, because you should at least be knowledgeable about the financials of your life choice and career.

I discovered Shantell Martin's work while browsing through LinkedIn, which is a departure from my usual encounters with artists on Instagram. It's noteworthy that Martin is highly active across various social media platforms, making her presence felt not only on LinkedIn but also on Instagram and other channels. Interestingly, she continues to share her work regularly on Flickr, maintaining a consistent online presence.

Shantell Martin

Who is Shantell Martin?

Shantell Martin, a visual artist renowned for her distinctive style featuring squiggly black lines on a white background, has successfully transformed her artistic expression into a thriving creative business. Her unique aesthetic, characterized by these distinct lines, is not only visually striking but has also found a notable presence in public spaces. Martin has expanded her artistic endeavors beyond traditional mediums, engaging in various creative ventures such as collaborations, interactive performances, workshops, and innovative projects.

Martin has served as an Artist in Residence at various prestigious institutions, such as New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) within the Tisch School of the Arts, Autodesk Pier 9, the Sundance Film Festival, and Clark College. She has also held fellowships at prominent institutions like MIT Media Lab, ITP at NYU, and Brown, Columbia, among others.

Her work extends to public installations, including projects with Times Square Arts and Midnight Moment, as well as collaborations with the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. Martin's solo exhibitions have been featured at renowned venues such as the Denver Museum of Art, New Britain Museum of American Art, and Buffalo AKG Art Museum, among others. The article will delve into her collaborations with various brands in later sections.

Martin’s work on Time Sq screen, courtesy Martin’s Instagram

Creating opportunities

Martin’s career started with performative drawings as a part of DJ sets in Japan, where she lived for 5 years after graduating from Central Saint Martins in London. She moved to NYC in 2009. She tried to go the gallery route but wasn’t able to get a gallery to represent her, because she hadn’t shown anywhere or sold any art. Here is a short excerpt from her interview with Artnet².

I realized quite early on that there’s a catch 22—if you haven’t already shown, galleries won’t show you. So I thought, well, they’re not going to show my work, but of course I’m still going to make it because that’s what I do as an artist. I’m just going to have to find other avenues to get it out there.

Shantell is not represented by a gallery, and hasn’t shown at art fairs or sold at auctions. Her career doesn’t follow the regular art trajectory. It is self-curated. She works on projects that speak to her.

Martin looked at what she had—her experience in Japan, her indelible visual art skills, and supportive friends. She asked friends who had a space if she could use it, and then started throwing shows in Williamsburg. She invited bands while she created her unique hand-drawn projections, just like in Japan.

For a while, there wasn’t any money. Then, in 2010, someone who worked at the Museum of Modern Art showed up at one of her gigs. Next thing, she was hired for a Museum event and even got a cameo on the TV show ‘Gossip Girl’. She then did an event for the Museum of Moving Image and started to do events and conferences everywhere, monetizing her skills. Fast forward to 2012, four years in NYC, she posted her wall-drawing in her BedStuy room on Facebook, and it caught the eye of the New York Times. The article made her an overnight success, and Martin’s career took off.

While luck may play a role in the art world, Shantell Martin's success is not solely attributed to chance. Indeed, having influential individuals notice your art can be considered a stroke of luck, but Martin actively enhanced the likelihood of such opportunities. She took proactive steps by organizing shows, maintaining a strong and engaging presence on social media, and actively seeking out opportunities. Through her strategic efforts, Martin increased her visibility, making it more probable for key figures to discover and appreciate her work.

Diversifying while being focused

Just like a diversified portfolio, developing diversified creative projects and services that perform differently can help lower business risk. Despite adhering to her signature black inky lines on a white background, Shantell Martin has demonstrated a remarkable versatility by engaging in a variety of creative projects. Her commitment to this distinctive style has not hindered her exploration of diverse avenues.

Martin’s diversified offerings

Some noteworthy projects include:

1. Font Launch: Martin introduced a font based on her art, which has been downloaded an impressive 3 million times on Google Fonts. Notably, she released the font under an open font license, allowing for widespread use.

2. NFT Innovation: Her NFT (Non-Fungible Token) titled 'THE QUESTION' made history as the first NFT acquisition by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), showcasing her adaptability in embracing emerging digital art trends.

3. Artist in Residence Program: Collaborating with the agency Critical Mass, Martin developed an Artist in Residence program. This initiative aims to foster equitable partnerships between artists and brands, stimulate conversations about artist exploitation, and explore new collaborative approaches.

4. Educational Involvement: Martin has extended her influence into education by teaching, participating in speaking engagements, and holding advisory roles at esteemed institutions such as NYU, MIT Media Lab, and Columbia University.

5. Collaborations: Beyond solo projects, Martin has engaged in collaborations with other notable artists like Shepard Fairey and Kendrick Lamar, strategically leveraging partnerships to cross-promote and expand her reach.

This diverse range of projects highlights Shantell Martin's ability to navigate various creative realms while maintaining a consistent artistic identity. Her strategic initiatives have not only broadened her artistic repertoire but also contributed to her overall success in the creative industry.

Brand Partnerships

In my last post I talked about having mixed feelings about artists doing brand partnerships, but Martin is pretty clear that partnerships do not devalue her work, she thinks that you can’t really put artists in these little boxes and assume there are things that artist can or cannot do. So I stand corrected!

Martin has ongoing collaborations with major brands, including Google, Ralph Lauren, Max Mara, Puma, and The North Face, the NY City Ballet, Uno, Quip, Cash app, Adidas, and many more. These partnerships probably are a biggest source of income for Martin.

As mentioned above, not only is she doing brand partnerships, she is writing the playbook for it for other artists and agencies so that these collaborations are mutually beneficial to all parties.

Building in public

This is something that a lot of indie hackers or technical solopreneurs do, they make apps in public. This means that they use a social media tool like twitter to talk through their process as they build. Martin has her own version of this. She is very interactive and participatory in her approach to creating her work.

She created a font inspired by her style so that others can embody a part of her while writing their own ideas. A lot of projects are performative and she is in the room with people watching and interacting. Earlier on, she would do interactive workshops and face painting. This really helps creating genuine connections and getting the word out. She inherently doesn’t believe in making art behind closed doors, and her collaborative nature helps proliferate her art. If she was doing the same exact art but had different values, she might not be this successful.

Overnight success…17 or more years in the making

As I looked through Martin's Flickr account, I stumbled upon pictures of interactive drawing workshops dating back to 2006. These workshops were self-organized by Martin, who invited friends to participate. Remarkably, her distinctive style evident in those images from 17 years ago closely mirrors her present-day artwork. Even back then, she was engaging in public drawing, albeit in a digital format and creating opportunities to get her work out there.

playing the long game

Summarizing

1. Shantell Martin is an opportunity creator. When she was told by galleries that they won’t represent her, she started creating her own shows in Brooklyn. When she couldn’t break into the London art market, she moved to Japan to find opportunities. She is always pivoting and finding ways to putting her art out.

2. She is consistent which makes her bankable (I hate this word). Her art work looks very similar in different venues. Brands, museums, and collaborators know exactly what they are going to get. She has found her product market fit, so to say.

3. She has built her brand through her art but also through diversification into digital art through developing fonts and creating NFT’s

4. She is a thought leader, she developed an 27 point artist manifesto about art, and created an artist in residence program with an agency, for artists to understand their rights and promote artist brand collaboration. She is laying the groundwork for artists to make more money.

5. She increases the probability of an event happening by increasing the number of events she goes to or organizes. She talks about how she gives out stickers instead of business cards because they ‘stick’.

6. She is collaborative, and the cross-promotions with Shepard Fairey, Kendrick Lamar, Ben Sheppee, and others have helped her career.

Ending thoughts

Martin talks about an equitable art industry where artists should make their own way and not rely on galleries to help them with the business aspect of their work and finding patrons. She thinks of business and art as intertwined.

In my recent Reddit trawling, I interacted with many artists who said how people bought their art because it reminded them of something familiar or something they liked, like their favorite location, pet, or plant.

Artists sell art if their narrative aligns with the buyer’s narrative. For example, one of the artists on Reddit makes art for veterans. His art includes elements like the company number that resonate with veterans, and they buy his art.

Art is not purely self-expression. If an artist is unable to hone in on their art market, they wouldn’t make a living off of it.

1. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/shantell-martin-1398100

2. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/shantell-martin-1398100