Lucky breaks: unpicking the intersectionalities at play in artistic careers

Luck and intuition are not readily admitted aspects of entrepreneurship and marketing strategy and practice. However, in the course of a study into the careers of UK visual artists based mainly around the main hub of London, emergent evidence for artist entrepreneurs to claim their work is often the result of luck rather than good management is found. Various theories of luck and how this may play out in practice are applied to featured examples portraying images of serendipitous careers based on luck and intuition. Closer examination reveals that artist careers are often more about the social capital, networks and intersectionalities that these artists are able to leverage than any pure coincidental luck or serendipity. Through life story narratives as illustrated by reference to empirical data, themes of very real advantages and disadvantages based on gender, geography and class are developed in the face of the espoused theory of luck.