RE: "Art is not about selling, but about having something to say that´s worth telling"
An outstanding and poignant post... lots of valuable truth here.
I've got a creative outlet, but I'd hardly call myself an artist; but I do always put the creative-- and the underlying reasons for the creativity (the "story")-- ahead of commercial considerations.
That said, I also owned and ran an art and fine crafts gallery for 15 years when I lived in Texas; now my wife and I have a much smaller and more "alternative" gallery here in Washington state. The political nonsense is interesting because we have distanced ourselves from the "main street gallery politics" of our smallish town and just do our own thing... which is to promote authentic artistic expression (within the parameters of our particular style) while also guiding our stable of some 40-odd artist not on "content;" but on how to best present their authenticity for "public consumption." As in, being an artist doesn't excuse you from remembering to sign your work, having a proper bio, bringing us "fresh" (no shopworn) work and so on.
Great post.
Great reply and very good points.
I should have mentioned this in my post in that it is usually the smaller town galleries who are decent and are into art for the right reasons and they usually help artists on their books.
Of course I was really referring to some of the main big city galleries in London, New York etc where there are some ruthless dealings going on there.
Even here in my own city of Oslo there are many sharks around whom I have been bitten by one or two of them myself.
With regards to Texas I only have a good feeling about it. Not that I have been there but because a few years back a wealthy art collector from Texas came into my gallery and she was really nice. She mainly collected well known artists and actually owned a few works by Picasso and also Cezanne. Apparently her family owned "a small oil well" of which she showed me pictures of. She bought one of my paintings and later sent me photo of it hanging next to a Picasso lol!
I dont know about Texas folk but she was a lovely person.
I congratulate you on keeping your integrity in a world that can be really ruthless. It warms my heart to hear your story.
Really appreciate it and has made my day.
Cheers to you and your partner.