Last weekend, two of my paintings were on show at the Discovery Art Fair Cologne in Germany, represented by AntiKult Gallery.
It’s a strange feeling seeing work that was made quietly in the studio sitting in a busy art fair, surrounded by hundreds of other artists and galleries.
Most of the time, the work exists in a controlled, quiet space. Just me, the canvas, and the process of slowly building something up layer by layer. Then suddenly, it was out in the world — under bright lights, in front of people who had never seen it before.
There’s a shift that happens in that moment.
The work stops being something private and becomes something public. And you don’t really get a say in what happens next.
A Completely Different Environment
The Discovery Art Fair Cologne was a very different setting to the studio.
There was movement, noise, conversations happening everywhere. People passed by, paused briefly, and decided in seconds whether something held their attention.
There were plenty of enthusiastic art lovers visiting the Discovery Art Fair
It was a sharp contrast to how the work is made. In the studio, a painting can take weeks to settle. Decisions are slower, adjusted and reconsidered over time.
At an art fair, that time disappears. The work either connects quickly — or it doesn't.
And once it’s on the wall, there’s nothing you can do to influence that. No explanation. No context. No control over how it’s interpreted.
In a way, that’s exactly what the work is built for.
How Social Media Led to an International Art Fair
The opportunity to exhibit at an international art fair like this didn’t come through a traditional route... it came through social media.
My connection with AntiKult Gallery began with a simple interaction online. A message turned into a conversation, and that conversation opened the door to showing work in Germany. It’s something I’ve written about before when talking about social media for artists — how it can feel overwhelming, but at the same time, it creates opportunities that didn’t exist before.
Without that connection, this wouldn’t have happened.
Letting the Work Speak
What was interesting about moments like this was that I wasn’t there. I wasn’t stood next to the paintings explaining them or guiding how people should see them. They were simply there, open to interpretation.
There’s something slightly uncomfortable about that at first — handing over something you’ve spent time with and letting it exist without you.
But that’s the point.
The work was never meant to have a fixed meaning. It’s meant to leave space... space for someone to see something of themselves in it. Space for their own thoughts and experiences to shape what they take from it.
Two of my paintings on display with AntiKult Gallery
It’s something I’ve written about before in Why I Leave Room for You in My Abstract Portraits — the idea that the viewer isn’t separate from the work, but part of it.
In that sense, the work isn’t really finished in the studio. It completes itself when someone else connects with it.
Are Art Fairs Worth It for Artists?
There’s also a reality to exhibiting at art fairs that’s worth being honest about... there's no guarantee of sales.
No certainty that anything immediate would come from it.
But that doesn't make it any less important.
Art fairs offer something that’s hard to replicate online — the chance for your work to be seen in person by a completely new audience. Collectors, galleries, and visitors who may never have come across your work otherwise.
It’s about visibility.
It’s about context.
It’s about giving the work a chance to exist in a different space.
Playing the Long Game
One of the biggest reminders from experiences like this is that not everything happens straight away. You can show work, have conversations, make connections — and still walk away without anything obvious to point to.
That can be frustrating. But it doesn’t mean nothing is happening.
A conversation might turn into something months later. Someone might remember your work long after the fair ends. Opportunities don’t always arrive in the moment they’re created.
As Axel from AntiKult once said to me: The more fishing rods you have in the water, the more chance you have of catching something.
This was one of those rods.
Keeping the Embers Burning
Building a career as an artist comes down to momentum.
Continuing to make the work.
Finding ways to keep it visible.
Staying open to opportunities, even when the outcome isn’t clear.
It’s rarely one big breakthrough.
More often, it’s a series of smaller steps — a post, a message, a connection, an exhibition — that gradually build into something more over time. Even when nothing immediate happens, it all feeds into something.
From Quiet Work to Public Space
Most of what led to moments like this happened quietly.
In the studio.
In the repetition.
In the hours that go unseen.
That part rarely gets attention.
What people saw was the art fair. The work on the wall. The finished result.
For a few days, the work sat in Cologne, in a space I wasn’t in, being seen by people I’ll probably never meet, and that felt like a natural extension of the process. Quiet work, built over time — then out in the world, doing whatever it was going to do next.
For me, it's back to the studio and back to painting.
