Art and Creativity: Being "Brilliant" at What You Do vs Being "Relevant"

"I keep getting really positive feedback and people say they love my work, so why am I still struggling and broke?"

It's something we hear alarmingly often, here at the Red Dragonfly.

Artists create truly beautiful and innovative work, execute and present it well, get rave reviews and yet it doesn't make them even remotely a commercial success... even if they are actively marketing themselves.

"Let Your Horses Run" ceramic wall plaque by Sarah Fitch

Where Hope and Reality Intersect

It's easy to dismiss such questions with platitudes such as "it takes patience" and "your time will come" but such statements are generally not helpful, nor particularly encouraging.

Alternately, you can go down the functional-rational route where people say "If you want to be successful, do something people actually NEED, like be a doctor or an accountant." In other words — if you read between the lines — "don't take creative fields too seriously."

Earlier today, I was having a conversation with our shopkeeper neighbor here at Red Dragonfly; she has a candle and incense store. She has been in business for almost 18 years.

We were talking about how often we hear that our respective places of business are "beautiful" and "amazing" and some people go so far as to take multiple photos with their smartphones and declare "This is definitely one of my all-time favorite stores!"

Flattering as such assertions may be, my neighbor (the one with 18 years experience) says she always feel like quipping back "If you REALLY think my place is so awesome, why are you leaving empty handed, and why am I still worried about how I'm going to scrape together enough money to pay the electric bill?"

Are We "Over Arted?"

Whereas that's definitely a fair question, let's get back to how that applies to our aspiring artists, wondering why they get such accolades, yet basically have to give their art away...

The closest to the sad truth we can get is probably that our society is "over arted;" that is, there is far more interesting and even really good art being created than there are people interested in buying and owning it. 

Add to that the fact that life and lifestyles are changing. Here in the US of A, we have an aging population who are downsizing and have less and less physical space for art. Meanwhile, the younger generations are increasingly interested in a "cyber nomad" lifestyle (which precludes having a place to hang art) and — if our 20-something kids are anything to go by — many are more interested in collecting experiences than objects. 

It's not that they don't have appreciation for art — they DO — but that appreciation manifests and seeing the art somewhere and snapping a smartphone photo of it as a souvenir... and then spending their $3000 in a yoga retreat in Thailand. It's a pretty established trend we've been watching for about a decade, now.

Of course, these are broad generalizations.

You're Still a Brilliant Artist!

This past month, we've take on work from two very talented artists whose work fit in quite well at the Red Dragonfly.

What is a shame is that we have to dampen these creators' enthusiasm by injecting a dose of reality into their lives: We love their work, and people will love their work, and there's a good chance we won't sell anything.

Seems like a paradox, but it's a reality we increasingly have to be aware of.

Does it mean "The End of Art" is at hand, and all is lost? 

"Athenas Owl" digital photomontage by Amanda Cocking

Not at all! It simply means that it's a changing field, and people need to change with it or they will perish. It might mean that artists will continue to create, but their "funding" will come less and less from actual work sold, and more and more from venues like Steemit and Patreon, which offers the possibility of partially "crowdfunding" each individual piece of art.

On Steemit, for example, you have the possibility of posting pictures and part of your creative process and — in time — developing enough of a following that people will look at your work and say "Yeah, that's really cool! It's worth a 50-cent upvote," or some kind of other "tip" that can be translated into dinner and rent.

Meanwhile, the artist can create their art unencumbered by inner dialogues telling them "I have to make something that will SELL." And there's actually a certain creative freedom in that.

We already have initiatives such as @artzone on Steemit, and I am sure there are others... and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before there will be actual "art-related front ends" to share art on the Steem blockchain.

So ultimately... those in the artistic and creative fields don't have to change their art, they just have to change their approach, to remain relevant!

Thank you for reading!

Red Dragonfly is a proud graduate through the @sndbox creative incubator program, part of the "Cohort 1" team of May 31st, 2018. Please support Sndbox and the @sndbox-alpha curation initiative!

The Red Dragonfly is an independent alternative art gallery located in Port Townsend, WA; showcasing edgy and unique contemporary art & handmade crafts by local and worldwide artists. All images are our own, unless otherwise credited. Where applicable, artist images used with permission.