All About Art & Artists by D. L. Keur of zentao.com

Some of the most vocal art marketing gurus, on the Net and off, keep saying: Pick a style, a look, and focus on it if you want to be successful.

Well, yes.  That’s true.

But it’s also not true.

You can be successful doing several styles.  Of course, the gurus say: Do it under another name, which means you paint your abstracts under the name Horatio Harbinger, your realistic still-lifes under the name Harry Horatio, your animal paintings under the name Harold Harvey, and your landscapes done in New Age Impressionism under the name Jeneel Squiglio. 

OR.

Do your art, and don’t worry about it.  You can do periods of art…like most of the greats have; you can do series of art, like many modern artists do.  What you shouldn’t do is limit yourself.  Now, that’s just my opinion, but it’s a reasonable one considering that I do many different styles of art successfully in a wide range of mediums from sculpting to almost any real world and digital medium of visual art.

Each style of art has its own niche.  Know that niche.  Know who your customers, collectors, and investors might be for each style.  And, sometimes, realize that, right now, your cutting edge work might not have a consumer base.  That doesn’t mean that it won’t in the future. 

So what’s my point?  Don’t limit yourself.  Don’t narrow your art simply to satisfy some “guru’s” idea of how to make the bottom line profitable.  Profit isn’t the point in art.  True, passionate self-expression is the point of art — sharing yourself.  Do the art first; then let the market sort itself.  It works.  All you have to do is get the art out there…which means exposure…not being afraid of negative comments and failing to “win.”  Your work will grow on people as they experience YOU more and more.  And that’s the secret, folks.  You have to know who you are, and then express that you into your art.

So why do the “art gurus” say what they say?  Think about it.  They wanna make money.  Off you, and/or off your art.  And they can make it fastest and easiest if you listen to them, and play ball by their formulas.  Well, let the gurus work a little harder for their money, I say.  Screw their easy-on-them formulas.  Live and express that life experience and perspective, and don’t sweat the moneymen/women.

An artist posts a work for comment in a critique venue.  She/he is advised, gently, that one of the works is too suggestive, especially considering reactions pedophiles could have from viewing it.  And what happens?  The artist comes back all snippy, lecturing the reviewers about “it’s art, and I’m not here to debate sick minds.”

Really!?  So what is the point of putting a four-year-old’s head on the body of a child undergoing puberty and its associated changes, namely the growth and development of “baby boobs?”

“It’s a fairy,” replies s/he.

“I’m aware of that, but it’s still too suggestive. You need to change that.”

[INSERT PETULANT REACTION BY ARTIST]

And who is this snide and snippy creative type? Well, the name is stricken from my list of possible candidates for review on NakedGenius.com, and s/he will never be permitted to show on the Art Showcase.  Why?  Well, first off, because this isn’t the ONLY embossed leather work s/he has created that is suggestive in such a manner to be too attractive to pedophiles, the nipples on all of these sexually suggestive baby angels and baby fairies sculpted in fully enhanced, erect prominence such as a woman gets when she’s “turned on.”  Secondly, because I am completely tired of snippy attitudes from writers as well as artists who request critique, then, when they get them — gentle and fair ones, not “chew you a new one” reviews — they get their underwear all gathered in a knot because they got some suggestions for improvement, and didn’t just get all lauds and applause, never mind what they REALLY crave, which is rectal licking.

Pfffft! on them.

“If I Don’t Get My Way, I’ll Take My Art & Go to Hell.”

There seems to be a rising tide of this around artist venues on the Net these days.  Visualize a grown man throwing himself on the ground and screaming and kicking like a tot in tantrum frenzy.  And not just one or two, but more than several.  Arrogance?  Definitely.  Petulance?  Exactly. Shooting self in foot?  No.  More like the head, but that’s a good thing…for other artists.  ”Don’t let the door hit you on the hindmost as you leave, and please do take your art with you!”

Artists, be advised, please.  There are a million-million of you out there all wanting your chunk of the consumer’s dollars.  If you think for one minute that any company or dot com has to pay any attention to you as an individual, or even you as a group, you are mistaken.  These are not the days when the little guy or even a bunch of little guys can get their way by screaming and pounding their fists on the table.  And a class action suit is not going to net you ground within a decade of filing it, especially when the contract you agree to doesn’t expressly say you get what you are demanding.

Companies, domains and websites are owned.  It’s the owner’s name on the bottom line.   If they allow you to show in their gallery, in their venue, on their websites, you are there in accordance to their terms, which can change at any time.  You are not there on terms dictated by you.  You don’t own the real estate and the operation.  It runs by owner’s, organization’s, or corporation’s dictate, not yours.  Get used to that fact, and do, by all means, get your own operation going where you dictate the terms, too.  That way you can do it your way…and use what other services are around to enhance your enterprise.  Otherwise, you are just throwing yourself down the tube, and that tube heads “south.”