What keeps you motivated and on track? Are you fueled by external validation?
Art Basel/ Miami Beach is said and done, and by now almost everyone has chimed in with a response to Charles Saatchi’s scathing review of the contemporary art world, but I still find myself in plenty of discussions about the state of affairs in the current Art market.
All these discussions have me thinking about the Louise Bourgeois retrospective I saw at the Centre Pompidou Paris a few years back. The retrospective presented 200 sculptures, paintings, drawings and engravings Bourgeois produced between 1940 and 2007.
What really struck me was how playful Bourgeois was in all of her work. She was willing to try, explore, and talk about anything. She pushed and worked with an idea in as many different ways as possible. The diversity of materials and forms was breath-taking and her work ethic was nothing short of astounding.
She was absolutely fearless. (Or perhaps just very, very brave.)
Here is an artist that started studying at the Sorbonne when she was 15 years old and then never stopped. Ever! For two decades, after her professional debut, she as wholly ignored by the art world powers that be, but she just kept making art! She just kept working.
Questions to consider:
What keeps you motivated and on track?
Could you keep making art for two decades without any professional validation?
How much of your self worth as an Artist is tied up in winning the right award, grant, residency, or fellowship?
How do praise, recognition, or external validation (or the lack there of) factor into the way you make your work or feel about your art career?
Leave your thoughts, opinions and two cents in comments.
BIG Love,
-Kesha★
If you found this dicussion interesting, hit the re-tweet button and then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.
Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.
...But you already know that.
Above photo of Louise Bourgeois courtesy of Maplethorpe Gallery
-Kesha★
If you found this dicussion interesting, hit the re-tweet button and then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.
Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.
...But you already know that.
Above photo of Louise Bourgeois courtesy of Maplethorpe Gallery
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ReplyDeletesolitude is poorly understood.
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it's about being.
3.
emily dickinson, who never published in her lifetime, said:
It might be easier
To fail—with Land in Sight—
Than gain—My Blue Peninsula—
To perish—of Delight
During my early years of dance training I received a lot of validation from my dance teacher as far as ballet technique was concerned. But beyond that, when it came to other forms of dance - jazz tap well - they weren't my strong point.
ReplyDeleteI was still very good at them but just as good as the other girls. I was a ballerina.
And then high school hits. I stuck with the ballerina identity and it brought me to a point of withdrawing socially - so the Powers that be in that time in my life were not so validating.
By the time I was a junior I started taking class once a week with someone I'd consider a Master Ballet teacher. I wasn't one of her best dancers but she say my drive and by the time my finally performance hit as a senior she was the only one who said 'I hope you keep dancing'.
That was validation. But that one statement held me through the rocky seasons of dancing in the Contemporary dance scene in NYC and got my butt out of their when I realized I was better than that.
I haven't taken class in at least 3 years - but I still know that I'm a good dancer. And i'm applying that lesson now to my current work.
I know I'm a good entrepreneurs because I wrote a biz plan in Elementary school. I know I'm a good creative writer. Many of the powers that be in my lifetime that haven't recognized this must just have a very short attention span.
What a c0ol Chick + that B+W Photo is Fabulous!! I think most Artists do their Art cuz they Love Art but it's also nice to see a few $$$ roll in once in awhile for the work + effort + materials. Cheers!! ;)
ReplyDeletep.s. I recently had the good fortune to take advantage of Kesha's Artist Biz Plan 2012 - Timely advice + I highly recommend it to all her Readers + Artists!
Hello Kesha,
ReplyDeleteFirstly, thanks so much for such motivating writing and podcasts on being an artist! I really enjoy getting your website updates.
As for the question on how I stay motivated. First and foremost, its quite simple, but I truly enjoy what I do. I heard the artist Jean Haines speak in an interview where she mentions if she did not enjoy the process of painting, she would not do it and I agree with this wholly. It also makes a huge difference in the quality of work you produce.
Secondly, with so much opportunities and venues to be able to sell your own work, there is always hope if galleries turn down ones work. That helps with motivation from a business perspective.
Looking forward to seeing what others will have to say as well.
Peace.
Sophia
AWESOME post Kesha!
ReplyDeleteMotivation anymore for me is inside ME, I want to be the BEST I can be and that pushes me to experiment, to play, etc. I am never lost for ideas or inspiration because I see it everywhere around me.
I used to want validation from others - have been working on this the past couple of years, and more & more I go by MY rules and if I LOVE something, if I do or plan something, I look how it will make ME FEEL. I've learnt to be more selfish I guess and if others like it good. LIFE is too short to worry about how others will think or react.
Fascinating! So many of the traditional definitions of success equate to external validation.
ReplyDeleteI've been using your rule "Make art!" all year, while I ponder what success means for me, and I'm still drawing a blank. I don't want to measure it by gallery shows, awards, grants, or anything like that.
Probably it's more like "Accepting the artist label for myself" and "# of flow moments while creating art" that define success for me. Yep, that's sustainable for many years. Okay, maybe a little bit of "Make a bit of profit so it's a business not a hobby"...
Yay -- some words that mean success for me! I've been looking for them for so long. Thanks, as always, for your great posts that really push us to think.
I think is a horrible time to ask me those questions, as I am dealing with my own personal art idenity questions at the moment.
ReplyDeletea) It's not motivation. It's desire. I want to express the wonder and love I have for this universe, even if it is challenging to express that. I want to express color, and flow, and it's hard to get others to understand that flow doesn't come from emulated pixels. I desire joy, even if it's for a little while.
I don't think I can call that really motivation. It's more need.
b) I think I've already past that point. The question is can I keep doing it?
c)My sense of worth as an artist doesn't come from anything professional like that. My sense of worth comes in little drips and drops from normal people who appreciate my work, and take the time to say so. My goal is to find an audience for that work, and it's been really depressing and disheartening that I don't think I can find that audience. But I keep trying to anyway. I just need to make a decision on who I want to be pleased by more.
One of these days, I'll focus on making art people will want to pay for. Maybe I already do. Mainly, unless I distract myself, it's made... in all it's deformed crazy ways.