Here’s something I like to tell myself every time i draw something “Oh that’s not good you’re not an artist no one will like what you are doing who do you think you are anyway?”
I mean I don’t like to tell myself that but my self likes to tell myself that if you know what i mean. “Oh that’s not fine art you’ll never be good enough to matter why do you even bother you remember that fruit bowl you painted once with oils and it looked good enough to eat that was an anomaly a freak accident you didn’t really do that”
It’s taken me at least 10 years to fully realize that i don’t really have my own best interests in mind sometimes. I don’t know if it’s fear of failure or fear of rejection or lack of confidence or some twisted self-lies i have found myself repeating over an over but i’ve honestly had enough. At least for now anyway give me another two years and i’ll be beating myself up again.
But the reality is that art in its truest form and by this i don’t mean graphic design or political commentary but true art in its truest form is not about the observer it is about the artist. When an artist takes the time to put pencil to paper ink to parchment oil to canvas or electric field to tablet and create something new that truly comes from within the purpose is to express themselves and not to impress the viewer. Sure the viewer can have an emotional or visceral response to the artwork and they may even have the same experience that the artist had when they were creating the piece but that piece is really all about the artist finding a way to express themselves.
So if i create something and i get mad or depressed because someone doesn’t like it then my motivations as an artist are not correct i am no longer creating art for myself but am instead creating it for the masses. While it is ok or even laudable to expose my work to the world it would be just as acceptable to hold it back so long as the end result is a better understanding of my own self and what i was created to do yet the world is still a better place when we are open with who we are including or perhaps more significantly when we share what we create.
