Between water and light with Jonah Allen

An episode of the Phillip Lanos Podcast podcast, hosted by Phillip Lanos, titled "Between water and light with Jonah Allen" was published on December 6, 2024 and runs 26 minutes.

December 6, 2024 ·26m · Phillip Lanos Podcast

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Summary

Jonah Allen, a visual artist and photographer, focuses on the relationship between water and light. He has been working on a book for three years, documenting coastal dune-like outfalls, and has developed a successful non-traditional business selling large-format prints. Allen emphasizes the importance of marketing, including social media and targeted outreach, to build a successful creative business. • Career Focus: Jonah Allen is a visual artist and photographer focusing on the relationship between water and light. • Artistic Identity: Allen identifies as a photographic artist, emphasizing their intentful and artistic approach to photography. • Book Project: The speaker has been working on a book called “Where Waters Meet” for three years, focusing on coastal dune-like outfalls and the confluence of waters. • Leveraging Technology: Technology has democratized the art world by removing the need for traditional middlemen like art galleries, allowing artists to reach a wider audience directly. • Importance of Marketing: Successful artists need to focus on marketing and building a strong brand to connect with their target audience and generate sales. • Marketing Strategy: Utilize a combination of “seeds” (referrals, outreach), “nets” (social media, email marketing), and “spears” (targeted outreach) to build a brand. • Dream 100 Goal: Aiming to connect and collaborate with influential individuals, referred to as the “Dream 100,” within the industry. • Creative Inspiration: Draws inspiration from various sources, including music (Olafur Arnald) and photography (Edward Bratinsky), aiming to create ethereal images. • Importance of Art History: Understanding art history provides context and understanding of concepts and culture, but it’s also important to innovate and not just follow in someone’s footsteps. • Biggest Roadblock: Negotiating a lease for a gallery space fell through, but the speaker is now focusing on scaling their business digitally to make it easier to secure a physical space in the future. • Challenges for Creative Visual Arts: Securing a building for creative visual arts can be difficult due to factors like financial requirements, paperwork, and approval processes. • Art market as an investment: The art market is a $50 billion industry that is non-standardized, opaque, and unregulated, making it susceptible to manipulation. • Jonah’s Website and Social Media: Jonah’s website is jonahallen.com and his Instagram is @jonahallenstudio. • Meeting with Elton: The speaker wants to meet Elton and have a coffee with him.

Episode Description

• Career Focus: Jonah Allen is a visual artist and photographer focusing on the relationship between water and light.

• Artistic Identity: Allen identifies as a photographic artist, emphasizing their intentful and artistic approach to photography.

• Book Project: The speaker has been working on a book called “Where Waters Meet” for three years, focusing on coastal dune-like outfalls and the confluence of waters.

• Leveraging Technology: Technology has democratized the art world by removing the need for traditional middlemen like art galleries, allowing artists to reach a wider audience directly.

• Importance of Marketing: Successful artists need to focus on marketing and building a strong brand to connect with their target audience and generate sales.

• Marketing Strategy: Utilize a combination of “seeds” (referrals, outreach), “nets” (social media, email marketing), and “spears” (targeted outreach) to build a brand.

• Dream 100 Goal: Aiming to connect and collaborate with influential individuals, referred to as the “Dream 100,” within the industry.

• Creative Inspiration: Draws inspiration from various sources, including music (Olafur Arnald) and photography (Edward Bratinsky), aiming to create ethereal images.

• Importance of Art History: Understanding art history provides context and understanding of concepts and culture, but it’s also important to innovate and not just follow in someone’s footsteps.

• Biggest Roadblock: Negotiating a lease for a gallery space fell through, but the speaker is now focusing on scaling their business digitally to make it easier to secure a physical space in the future.

• Challenges for Creative Visual Arts: Securing a building for creative visual arts can be difficult due to factors like financial requirements, paperwork, and approval processes.

• Art market as an investment: The art market is a $50 billion industry that is non-standardized, opaque, and unregulated, making it susceptible to manipulation.

• Jonah’s Website and Social Media: Jonah’s website is jonahallen.com and his Instagram is @jonahallenstudio.

• Meeting with Elton: The speaker wants to meet Elton and have a coffee with him.