Who are you doing this for? Defining your audience as an artist.
- Joyce Ter Horst
- Feb 6
- 3 min read
Visibility without direction
Many artists are busy being visible, without ever asking who they are trying to reach.
Scroll through any platform and you will see it. Trends repeated at speed. Formats copied. Prompts followed almost obediently. Not because they serve the work, but because they promise to be seen.
Visibility has become a strategy in itself.
And yet, very few artists pause to ask the quieter, more demanding question beneath it all. Who is this actually for?
Not in an abstract sense. Not ‘everyone who loves horses.’
But a real audience. A context. A situation in which the work makes sense.
When audience remains undefined This question is often avoided because it feels limiting. As if defining an audience means closing doors, narrowing possibilities, or reducing artistic freedom.
In reality, the opposite is true.
When audience remains undefined, everything becomes scattered. Decisions are made based on reach rather than relevance. Output increases, but direction disappears.
Artists often describe this as feeling stuck, behind, or constantly adjusting. They try harder, post more, adapt faster. They shoot with hail instead of laser sharp focus.
The problem is not effort.
It is orientation.
Audience as context, not visibility Defining your audience as an artist is about context, not visibility. Knowing who you are speaking to is not only a marketing exercise. It is first and foremost a curatorial one
An audience is not just a group of viewers. It is a frame of reference. A shared visual language. A set of expectations that allows work to be read with depth instead of skimmed at speed.
Without that frame, even strong work floats. It can be admired, liked, even shared, without ever landing somewhere meaningful.
This is why chasing trends rarely delivers what it promises. Trends generate attention, not alignment.
They attract eyes, not understanding.
And understanding is where opportunities emerge.
Selection creates coherence Exhibitions, collaborations, collectors, commissions. These are not built on being everywhere.
They come from being recognisable somewhere specific. Artists often hesitate here because audience sounds like judgement. As if choosing who the work is for implies rejection elsewhere.
But professional clarity is not exclusion. It is deliberate selection.
Every exhibition, every collection, every serious presentation begins with selection. Not everything belongs in the same space. Not every viewer is part of the same conversation. When artists avoid defining their audience, they are not staying open. They are postponing a decision they already feel pressed by.
This pressure shows up quietly. In second guessing. In changing direction too often. In the sense that nothing quite settles. What is missing is not exposure It is context.
From a curatorial perspective, the question is never ‘how do we reach more people?
’It is ‘ what does this work need in order to be understood properly?’
Once that question is addressed, focus becomes possible. Not rigid focus, but informed focus. Choices gain weight. Work gains coherence. An audience does not define the work. It reveals it.
And until that audience is named, even the most beautiful work risks drifting in search of recognition, rather than moving with intention.
If you recognise this uncertainty, it may be time to bring a curatorial frame to the work. I am here when you are ready.
