The act of showing and getting art shown has many relationships to other aspects of artist's opportunities and responsibilities. Here I'll attempt to both define what showing art might mean as well as identify what impacts the decision-making and logistics of that task.
Showing art is a fundamental activity that most artists spend time and money doing. In fact, your identity as an artist on many social media forums will question with something along the lines of, "If you aren't showing and selling your art then *for whom* are you making it? For some critics, showing and selling art are closely and inextricably coupled. You can't be whole without the two because in their view artists do not create for self-satisfaction - there has to be an audience.
What Does "Showing" Art Mean?
I cannot speak to (usually global, urban) high-value commercial galleries An artist who has that kind of representation will find the information in my Art Hacks blog posts to be provincial and worthless.
So this is for the rest of the 99.99999% of us.
An obvious place to start showing your art is at a local arts organization's gallery. Sometimes membership is required but usually there are shows open to non-members for a slight increase in entry fees. These organizations usually sponsor virtual galleries as well. These group shows are almost always an eclectic mix of quality. That said, using your best judgement as to whether or not your work will complement the particular show is advisable.
Another source of exposure are restaurant and office spaces. In this case you simply can make arrangements with the proprietor to display work on their walls. There is risk involved. In one case, I showed at at popular Brooklyn restaurant and everything went seamlessly. When I went to pick up the work it was coated with a layer of grease that accumulated from kitchen steam.
On another occasion I added a piece to the wall of a local bakery that closed abruptly and took the work with them. So co-operative arrangements can get tricky.
Personally (and as a software professional) I don't recommend virtual art galleries unless its your own or an intimate peer group running it. They are usually impossible to browse and even more difficult to navigate. These things number in the thousands, the number of artists number in the tens of thousands, and the number of works are innumerable. Its the artistic equivalent of putting a business card in a bottle and throwing it out to sea.
OTOH, having a personal (free) blog is wise. It saves money. Its exclusive to you and yours. AND, you control its contents. It ain't hard.
If you do commodity landscapes, portraits, cute animal pictures and so on you really more accurately belong in the *arts & crafts* fairs, festivals and pop-up shops. This cohort is out of scope for most of the Art Hacks blog post entries.
A previous Art Hacks blog entry discusses the cost of showing artwork.
Where Do I Find Shows to Apply To?
EventBrite and Cafe are two of the art ecosystem darling$ for advertising art shows. Others exist and are listed on the side panel of this website. You can always search your favorite search engine for "Call for Art".
Public service announcement: Do yourself and everyone else a favor and avoid art shows dedicated to the ubiquitous and insipid political dross that passes for art. The only way this intellectual sewer of litter will be cleaned up is by refusing to participate and attend.
How is Showing Art Related To Seeing Art?
This topic will be discussed in a future dedicated blog post.
How is Learning About Art Related To Showing Art?
This topic will be discussed in a future dedicated blog post.
How Do I Manage My Time and Money to Do All This Stuff ?
These topics will be discussed in future dedicated blog posts.
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