Paper Life Painting

I came up as an artist pre-internet. The thing that was drilled into everyone’s head was that you could spend your life serving the process and never be known in your lifetime, never catch that brass ring. People would disappear from the scene after a year or so of doing straight jobs and then spending large chunks of their free time in solitary pursuit of serving the process for seemingly nothing.

Of course no one would passively accept an artistic life of anonymity. We made xerox staple ‘zines, we held shows in anyone who had an living room to spares place, we played barbeques and house parties.

Another way of seeing how serious one was about being an artist was effort took to actually make a ‘zine (the way they looked often did not reflect the amount of effort put in). There was not a glut of ‘zines because it was no easy thing and it cost money.

The internet seemed to make things more egalitarian to those locked out of the studio/academic system. It also allowed an artist to reach those beyond their city.

The great promise morphed, now you had some of the gate keepers extending their kingdom to online, new submitters forced to jump through new hoops as to make editor/gallerist’s egos throb and grow.

After a few years of this though, the people seemed to have had enough. Everyone was now doing their own thing online largely under their own power. Yes, there are still journals and galleries et al to submit to. More often than not they do not look that great and their only value lay in making someone just starting out or a dilettante feel validated because someone they don’t know chose one of their works (often for a submission fee)

I am not anti-internet nor anti anything which allows one to be heard. However, it has become too easy. I have lost count of how many artist in visual medium and writing i have encountered who are not bad but need more time. With a blog, social media etc etc one can write a short story, do a drawing and put it up and even if it is not great, still garnering thousands of views. It gives very little incentive for an artist to woodshed. With no woodshedding and no serving the process there can be no evolution.

Rather than work on their voice & vision people now machine gun post what they are up to and selling on social media. We have a new generations of artists who do not have an audience but rather customers. There is an odd (and often obnoxious) Always Be Closing attitude with artists now.

All the likes and reposts which social media posted art receives, regardless of skill set and how much the work is not ready to be viewed has emboldened a sense of permission for the attachment on posts for the asking for something i.e Ko-fi, Patron, buy-me-a-coffee et al.

I am not anti selling one’s work. Of course if you are an artist you would like make some money for what you do if for no other reason than it allows you to continue on doing it. Nor am I anti self promotion but with this i do feel there is some etiquette to be observed too.

Anyone who follows my blog knows that I do not pester with the merchant side of what I do except for maybe twice a year, one of which is always the release of my latest collection. Often occurring in the spring. My new collection is out, first to be released not in the spring as I was finishing writing a novel.

I am both pleased and proud of it. It is available in paperback and for kindle at amazon.