Ok, so - I think I've been rejected by almost every gallery that is still managing to keep it's doors open at the moment... What a daft time to try and break into the market! But at the same time I have this "I told you so" feeling. I knew that this style and subject matter wouldn't go down well in South Africa, and being the mule that I am, I refuse to change what I'm enjoying and what I know works for me just because people are too intimidated by vaguely religious or even blatantly religious artwork. Come on! Rembrandt revelled in it - what are you so scared of??
So, I guess I'm destined to strengthen my character by watching everyone else sell crappy work while I slave away at my closet artwork. There's one more possibility which I'm reticent to even attempt, but I might have to just to appease the suburban mediocrity...
EPSAC is having an exhibition...
Now, let me describe an EPSAC exhibition: You have the hip artists - let's call them framer artists, because framers love their work and sell loads of it - they have fashionable "in" paintings that are the buzz of the moment, then you might have one or two who's who - the moderately well known artists, and then you have the garbage kitsch... oh my! These are artists (and I use that term with extreme generosity) with no formal training and no regard for technique. When I look at the work, I shudder as though someone has just walked over my yet to be dug grave, or dragged their nails across the chalkboard... It's the type of work you'd find an oriental or indian man painting in a large factory for very little money of a place he's never been to, but is trying hard to imagine it... (Somehow I think I've jumped on this hobby horse before...). And last but not least, there are the Sunday painters. These are people who view art as a hobby - like building model aircrafts or scrapbooking (Oh boy, I'm going to offend half my family with that statement). Their technique is equally horrifying as they transfer paint directly from a tube like making a withdrawal from an ATM, not even bothering to capture subtle nuances of colour by ACTUALLY MIXING PAINT!!
Now, call me a snob, but I cannot bare to put my work within a 5 mile vicinity of work like that. It messes with my karma and offends me horribly.
What a snob! No wonder I don't sell anything on a more regular basis!
3 comments:
Honey, you are not a snob, you just have standards! Just remember Minerva Tichert, she did beautiful religious art work.
Lets face it - we live in an age of instant gratification and in my limited artistic opinion, unless art work has investment value - like your Stein's and the like, the average collector (many with buying power)buy what is appealing to the eye and couldn't care a rats --- about training and technique and even less about the "subtle nuances of color" that have gone into the work presented.
As is sadly the case with so many artists, those graves they lie in are what have made them famous...albeit a little too late monetarily. Gertrude Stein said: A writer should write with his eyes and a painter paint with his ears.
...I wonder what she meant??
I'm so happy to see you posting again but I can tell you are feeling a bit defeated. :(
Consider your end goal - is it to sell your work or to make sure you enjoy being an artist by setting high standards for your work? Either way, don't let what anyone else is doing get in the way of your goal - what they lack/their shoddy work is of no concern to you and your plans. Focus on what you want to happen for your career.
I look at it this way... there's millions of trashy romance novels written by authors without college degrees who have an elementary form of character development. BUT there's a market for that kind of book. They sell.
Eventually the reader who reads those kind of books might evolve into selecting an educational, inspirational memoir and fall in love with that style of story telling instead. They're hooked on the good stuff (in my opinion) and never would have been if it wasn't offered for them to discover and enjoy. Enjoying and experiencing art is a learning experience for those who don't understand it.
I believe in you! Write down your goals with the day's date. You are going to get there.
Post a Comment