How important are art sales and social engagement to you? Anytime I open up social media, my feed is flooded with people talking about these. It's as if these are the criteria by which many are judging not only their success, but also their value. There's nothing wrong with wanting these things. I want them myself. I kinda even have to care about them as a professional artist, a career artist, because this is how I make my living. We all need resources to survive, sometimes to create the things we want. That being said, these do not determine whether or not you are a success, and they definitely do not determine your value.
I recently made a major pivot, consciously putting my art first, and reminding myself why I started making art in the first place.
This past year, after a major evaluation, and it was evident that I was starting to lose myself in the business of art. I wouldn't say I am completely out of it, but I'm definitely in a better place. I hit a point that I had to remind myself why I started making art to begin with. It wasn't for sales. It wasn't for likes. It was because it was how I connected with a world that rarely makes sense to me. At many points in my life, it has been the only thing I've had, my lifeline. It has often been my anything and my everything. It was been my way to find myself and my way to give back. When I think about those things, measuring them against the sales and likes, they are far more valuable than any price tag. They are priceless.
As an artist that shows with galleries, I think what happened to me, and what happens to many others, is that I started to slowly slip down a rabbit hole. If only on a subconscious level, I started to pay too much attention to what the market wanted. What color schemes are in? What price points are people buying at? What sizes are more likely to sell fast? If your main goal is indeed sales, then this would be fine. For me, it's more than that. There's nothing wrong with being business conscious, but for me personally, I started to lose the special spark in my art that was me. The second I started putting all of that second, things started shifting in a positive direction.
I truly believe that if you chase success, it will always be a stranger. The most valuable thing you can put in your art, is a piece of your soul. Be true to yourself. Tell your story, unapologetically. If you do that, your people will find you. The success will come knocking. It may take time. There may be days you go off course. There may be days you want to give up. In being true to yourself though, know that you have already succeeded. That other stuff, it's just icing on the cake. The criteria for being an artist has never been sales or likes, it has been the making of art. If you are making art, you are succeeding at being an artist.
Never forget why you started making your art 🧑🎨❤️
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