Seagull Box-Trot
Original oil painting, older sold work
by Susan Roux
I'm responding to yesterday's post, Art revelation. If you're just stumbling upon this page, you may want to go read it first.
Yesterday's dilemma spun around in my head all day. It choked my enthusiasm to paint. Good thing I had two classes to teach so it wasn't abandoned all together. It isn't fun when something can frazzle you so much. It was comforting to receive your comments throughout the day. Thank you for that. It gave me energy and supported what I was already feeling. Staying true to yourself!
Brian Blacknick's response, "If I had to keep on creating the same type of piece over and over again, I'd soon begin to hate it." sums up my feelings. I know there are artists who do paint similar things over and over and I can clearly see how they would get caught in this situation of not being able to change. But I don't find that true of myself. I've never molded myself into anything further than, "if its nature I paint it". Even with that, I've broken the rule...
I do admit, over time there has been a big declining change in my sales. So I can't help but question myself. Is it the economy, or is it about my art? I almost wish I had painted the same thing over and over. It would make it easier to understand what changed. Honestly, I find it hard to put my finger on it. I've just been painting all along...
Trying to analyze it can be so exhausting. I'd rather spend my energy painting.
Jay Mercado of Open Drawer Art Store said, "...galleries need to be more engaged in the evolution of their artists." Yes, in a perfect world. Martine-Alison called it a "ferocious world"! I appreciated your unified message of continued artist's growth. I chuckled at your suggestions on how to handle it within society. Everything from signing a different name to your experimental works to finding different galleries to carry it.
The more my blood boils over this, the more I want to go paint something so totally out of my norm! Maybe I should pull out the biggest canvas I have and go wild with color! Release all this negative energy which is bogging me down...
I don't live my life as a "break the rules" type of person, but right now, its all I want to do!
I'll close with Jay's quote. "Perhaps an increased understanding of the nature of creativity would make certain galleries less of a slave to what has sold and more of a champion for new work."
Beautiful!
these are so very, very beautiful!
ReplyDeleteSusan--really appreciated reading your posts on this huge issue for artists: the nature of growth and change versus the narrow demands of the marketplace. I have two bodies of work that, on the surface, look like they could have been produced by two different artists. It has been a marketing/image problem for me for many years. I've yet to come up with a solution--sorry to be so negative, but I don't think there's a good answer. In the vein of black humor, I always think of the great sculptor Louise Nevelson's answer to the issue of compromising one's art for the market: "Who said you have to eat?"
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