when moaning about how hard it is to make a living from art, the subject of 'selling out' often comes up, people accuse me of selling out, not selling out enough or needing to sell out more. what does this mean? different things to different artists, but why should any of it be viewed as selling out? Getting to do what I love as a job is 'win' as far as I'm concerned. I do get in knots trying to preempt the market however. Which I should know by now not to. Its frustrating to get lots of feedback , praise & press coverage about aspects of my work...but no sales. So the self-doubt creeps in. A good chat with some creative folks has got it out of my system. I think its another layer of sneering, elitism and snobbery that gets planted in at Art college. So I can do cute, for me to sell out would be to stop doing art / making things. Or to do something which was morally, idealistically or politically offensive.
Anyway to prove a point, here is the most commercial thing I could think of. Coming next puppies jumping through hoops, cartoon highland cows doing the fling, and me tap dancing in a clown suit.
Meanwhile all that cute has put me wrong so I'm off to gargle vinegar and paint things BLACK. Thankyou. and BUYMYWARES.com
3 comments:
He hee! Brilliant. Frankly you can't beat a bit of cute! ;-)
I don't understand the whole selling out thing. I mean at it's extremes I do, but I think doing things that are unatural and uncomfertable to yourself to that extreme are self-destructive anyway and will kill of your creativity sooner or later, so they kind of deal with themselves!
If you want to make money from your art it's impossible not to bend - I mean if you ever take a commission then you're to *some* degree following the wishes of a client rather than your own, unless someones willing yo hand you a pot of cash and say 'paint what you like in whatever timescale you like for whatever price you like' then you have to adapt. And bending of course doesn't have to mean moving away from what you naturally feel drawn to, are good at, have experience in, want to do, it can often mean new experiences, new angles, getting others insights, developing your practice, learning...
I do wonder if sometimes 'selling out' is confused, by some, with being commercial as the 'being in business' side of art isn't the most natural or enjoyable side of thier work.
That's my two pennies worth anyway! ;-)
Yes, yes to what both of you have said!
'Selling out' definitely gets confused with 'selling' - and I do wonder sometimes if that confusion arises for people who wish they were selling more...
Painting just exactly what I fancy is very important to me, but there's time enough to do other things too, and that can lead to new favourites which might never have been discovered.
Keep on!
Thanks for the feedback people ! Its great to get these things out of the system and un-block the creative barriers!
It doesn't matter what we create, just do it!
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