Talking to a friend today about what art really is, I got this overwhelming feeling. FALSE. He told me this story of a well known art marketing couple team that is very well known in the art world. They took a canvas and placed their baby daughter on it while she was eating. The baby proceeded to mess tomato sauce, food and whatever on the canvas. This couple then took the canvas and wrote an amazing write up about this new modern artist that was the “art of the moment to buy”. They pushed all their marketing know-how into this “project” and within a few days the “painting” sold for hundreds of thousands. They did this as a experiment to prove that art can be very false.
This got me seriously thinking about my own art. The questions are haunting me tonight. What is art. Am I a true artist? What does my art mean in a world of false art? Why do I do art, and how do I do art that I can be proud of?
minor art master 
I believe that you are definitely an artist! The fact that you do it as something that is meaningful for you, I think, makes you an artist. I have wondered about this sort of thing myself about my own art. I have so many doubts and it’s hard not to compare myself to others, but I am slowly starting to try to accept myself as an artist. And, I do think your work is brilliant by the way!
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Thank you so much, Amy! I really hit a dip about my art today and needed the encouragement! XXX
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I can’t tell you how much I can relate to that! I once saw a comic on Facebook that showed two characters looking at a piece of art in a museum. The art was simple with just a couple of lines. One character said “Pffft. I could do that!” The next character said “Yeah, but you didn’t”.
I really liked that so much! It helped me feel a little better and continue to do it anyway when I feel discouraged.
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This is something I struggle with all the time: Trying to make something that’s both visually interesting, means something, and is commercially viable. It’s a balance. But damn, people that make bad art but are great marketers drive me batshit crazy. It’s the same in music. My dad used to complain about a piano player that all the local musicians used to call “Lobster Claws” because he was no good, but he got all the gigs in town because he was such a great promoter. It’s so hard to be both, and the promotional side certainly isn’t something they taught me in art school, so I find myself muddling through staying true to my art but figuring out how to make a living at it. In other words, I know what you mean. 😉
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It’s a real struggle! I read somewhere that this is an age old problem. Even Michelangelo disliked the Pope and wasn’t very keen on doing the Sistine Chapel, but it was his “bread and butter”. I did a purely commercial painting range a few years ago. They did sell, but I felt I had betrayed my creativity. It wasn’t bad art, but I was too embarrassed to sign my name on the pieces. I don’t want to do that again!!
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