Conseptual Consciousness
July 10, 2017 Selling Out vs. Cashing In
I have been contemplating this my whole life. Recently, exploring Society6’s offering of having my work placed on various products. The sting of the message that has been pounded into my brain since my first dip into media is ‘Don’t be a sell out’. What this has painfully taken me too long to understand… what it has come to mean, to me, is insecure people want to cripple the competition by making it impossible to feel good about making money from your work.
The thought that my work is too good to be someone’s pillow? Why? Why is it so wrong for your work to be a part of someone’s daily experience, if it makes them happy to take a shower in the morning with art where they can touch it, why is that degrading? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see more art everywhere? Where every boring surface is made interesting and compelling. It can be very simple, it can be very subtle, or it can be a cacophony. Depending on the quality and quantity of stimulation each brain craves.
The fact is the arts make your brain smarter, more dynamic, more creative. Money is just fuel. Art is another kind of fuel. They can fuel each other.
Try buying another artists work. Even if you don’t think you can afford it. Its amazing what happens, you make a different kind of connection. You are reminded daily that there are people like you trying to generate creative energy in the world. Their work will remind you to keep trying with your own work.
The work by other artists on your walls become touchstones, each a pathway to all of the memories you have associated with the artist, the subject, and the people you have had conversations with about the piece.
The work has conversations with the work around it. The work has conversations with your work. The more conversations you have with art the more a part of your world it will become.
Write your own responses to this for yourself, find another artist to talk with if any of these ideas lead you deeper into your work. Ask one artist a question and tell another artist the answer that arises. Trade energy for energy.
