The Artists Business Lounge
Art Business Coaching for Visual Artists
What to Do When You Feel Invisible as an Artist
Feeling invisible, like no one sees your work? You’re not alone.
There’s a moment most professional artists hit, no matter how talented or committed they are. You’ve been creating consistently, you’ve probably shared online (possibly a lot), maybe you’ve been exhibiting or entering art prizes. And yet…
Nothing seems to land.
No real response.
Crickets.
You feel invisible.
If that’s you right now, please know this: it’s not just you. This feeling is common, and it doesn’t mean you’re not a real artist or that your work isn’t good enough.
In fact, visibility is one of the most underestimated challenges of building a sustainable art career. It’s a mix of strategy, confidence, consistency, and, yes, resilience.
Let’s look at what’s really happening when you feel invisible, and more importantly, what to do about it.
1. Understand What Visibility Really Means
Feeling invisible often stems from a belief that people aren’t seeing or valuing your work. But visibility isn’t just about others noticing you. It’s also about how you are (or aren’t) showing up.
This goes both ways:
Are people seeing you? Are you putting your work where your audience is?
Are you allowing yourself to be seen? Or are you hiding a little, feeling shy, playing small, holding back, waiting until it’s “ready”, worried you might be judged?
Most artists don’t realise they’re doing the second one. But it’s incredibly common. Visibility isn’t just an external problem, it’s internal too.
2. You’re Not Alone (Even Though It Feels That Way)
This fear of not being seen – or worse, the fear of being seen and found wanting in some way – isn’t unique to artists. I’ve worked with self-employed people across many creative and business fields, and this shows up for all of them.
But for artists, it hits deeper because our work feels personal. Rejection (or silence) can feel like it’s about us, not just our art. And because being a struggling artist has been so normalised in our society that we often expect rejection. Perhaps just a little, or perhaps subconsciously.
If you’re questioning whether anyone will ever notice your art, buy it, or exhibit it, that’s not proof you’re failing. It’s a sign you’re in the stretch zone. That super uncomfortable space where growth happens.
3. Check Your Foundations
Before jumping into “fixing” the visibility issue, pause and assess:
Are you clear on who your audience is? (Or at least a reasonable understanding of where in the thousands of ‘art villages’ you want to be participating in, and why).
Is your online presence – across all your platforms – aligned with your work and values?
Are you relying on a single platform (like Instagram) for all visibility?
Have you set up systems that allow people to find and connect with you outside of social media?
Being findable is part of being visible. It’s not just about being everywhere. It’s about having intentional, strategic visibility, not reactive posting or hoping to be discovered.
4. Visibility Isn’t Vanity
Artists can worry that wanting to be seen is egotistical. It’s not. Being seen is part of being in business. How do people know you exist if they’ve never seen you? If you want to earn from your work, people have to know it exists.
If you are diligently making your work hidden in your studio from which you or your work never emerge, you have a visibility issue. No matter how good an artist you are.
This isn’t about becoming a social media influencer. It’s about being prepared to show publicly who you are and finding the right people who connect with your work, and allowing them to discover, understand, and buy it.
5. Take One Brave Step
Visibility doesn’t happen all at once. Often it starts with a single act of courage:
– Creating or updating a website that showcases you and your work.
– Publishing the blog post you’ve been holding back
– Emailing a gallery or curator you admire
– Saying out loud: “Yes, I’m an artist, and I’m building my business”
Every time you take a step to show up, you expand your capacity to be seen. And that’s when the shift starts.
But here’s the kicker – it takes you to continue being visible and showing up to make the shift continue.
Feeling invisible is not a permanent state.
It’s often a sign you’re closer than you think to a breakthrough. But to move through it, you’ll need both inner clarity and external structure, not just hope and hustle.
Is what you are currently doing isn’t working it’s time to make a change.
While magical overnight results might be nice, it’s not a practical strategy to give up the first time something doesn’t work – imagine if you’d done that when you first started learning how to make your art?
Stay committed, not just to making your art but to making it visible so your people can find it.
Keep going.
What Will Your Next Step Be?
If you want to work on being more visible and getting better results, that’s exactly what I help artists build inside my programs.
From setting up a strong digital presence to uncovering the mindset blocks that hold you back, visibility becomes easier when you stop doing it alone.
Want help? Click the link below to organise a chat.
