Comments on: Why is it so difficult to be an artist?

By: wayne strickland

wayne strickland — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 05:44:00 +0000

Regards rembrant.
Like so many others,I regard rembrant as the greatest ever,I wish I could come somewhere close before I leave the planet.I am having a great time trying.
Cheers to all

By: Scott Fertig

Scott Fertig — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:25:18 +0000

I think a good artist is in part a creative problem solver. I think a lot of artists don’t see that that skill can also transfer into finding solutions to marketing oneself.

By: Karl Zipser

Karl Zipser — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:43:49 +0000

Rex,

I wrote about making art to satisfy specific people’s needs here. But this approach does not make it easy to be an artist. The obvious reason is that people have lots of other stuff to spend their money on — for example, they can buy a camera to take pictures of their own kids, instead of depending on some artist to do it for them.

Your formula for success refers to some specific examples, like ancient Athens. But Rex, why was Athens so special with respect to art, when so many other cities, with lots of ordinary people with the same needs as the Athenians, were not? Your argument holds no explanation. You are missing something essential — there needs to be something special about the people buying or commissioning the work, perhaps. Something. If you can’t explain what about the Athenians, or the 19th century French, was so special to create the right environment for great art, then your suggested approach is not compelling. It would apply equally well to the 18th century Florentines. What were they doing? Not much comes to mind.

You are using strong language to agitate for a certain mode of production. You are essentially saying, ignore one’s own feelings, paint for the florist, and hope for the best. It’s not a bad argument, but it’s not very powerful or compelling either. You are ignoring the fact that most people who are artists have the ability to do other things well and could probably make a good living if they decided to abandon art. Having chosen for art, why should one then abandon one’s own purpose for doing it for the sake of a taxi driver or a CEO?

By: David

David — Fri, 11 May 2007 06:16:01 +0000

David: Was there a single artist alive during the Renaissance who could paint like Chuck Close?

Jay: David: Not even Close.

Jay, I’m assuming your response is to this question I posted earlier. If so, that’s pretty funny :)

By: Jay Hoffman

Jay Hoffman — Fri, 11 May 2007 01:54:37 +0000

David:

Not even Close.

By: Derek Berndt

Derek Berndt — Tue, 08 May 2007 16:00:21 +0000

One thing I’ve learned is that there’s more to this business than just the gallery scene. It took me awhile to get it, but having just had a pretty-much sold out exhibition I finally realized what a bad business model it is for an artist.

What are other alternatives to galleries? Do you find you have better success selling through alternative channels such as art fairs and the Internet?

I’m interested to know what other individuals do to sell their works.

By: David

David — Sun, 06 May 2007 05:11:20 +0000

I would suggest that it also helps to know how to to paint. I agree that knowing how to paint is important, but only if you're trying to be a painter. There are a lot of other art forms out there, and they require different skills and sensibilties. If anyone wants to learn more about niche markets, Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired, has an interesting book on the subject, and also a blog.