Larry Poons, On Art Vs Business.

Thoughts: I agree. My first thought was the banana taped to the wall---good art or just paying the rent.

Once you decide you want to or need to sell your art to make money, the ONLY opinion that matters is the art buying public.

I have said it a hundred times here... people will buy almost anything and often do.

The best art on the Internet with the worst marketing will not sell as well as the worst art with the best marketing.

You really do not need to be successful as an artist, meaning pleasing the so-called experts, to be successful at selling your art. They are two different things altogether, IMHO.

Take William Bouguereau as an example. He was extremely prolific through the 1800s. The art critics of his day and for years after shunned his work as nothing more than "mere illustrations". He was ridiculed as an "artist". He was criticized for doing realism form live models, merely copying what he saw.

That a look at his work and see how many of his incredible images you will recognize today as some of the most popular images of our time even today, over 114 years after his death.

https://fasgallerycom.pixels.com/collections/william+bouguereau

I think most just hope to make art that's good enough to sell.
That mentality seems much more prevalent in this digital age where eyeballs are a dime a dozen.
In general, I think there's a play to the assumption that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

But I wonder how much of that would ring true if we were all musicians.
I think we might find a much less noisy landscape to navigate...

I kind of agree with that premise Ronald, selling my art was a milestone for me when I first started out, I needed validation.

Once I saw that people were willing to part with there hard cold cash to buy my art it all somehow changed. I needed a new milestone and selling was not validation anymore.

The focus shifted from where could I show my art to sell it, to simply creating and focusing all my energy on only the art itself. This broadened the horizon on the art that I was willing to work on and the result I think is that my art has evolved. I feel like a burden has been lifted and I can be true to the art. Art for art's sake, it's a nice place to be. The journey continues.

Then again, if no-one “gets” your art is it “any good”? At least if someone buys it it means they saw something of value to them in it, even if was just because it matched the sofa ;-)

~Richard
http://www.reevephotos.com

And that matters how? I personally wouldn't defer to another to determine for me if my art is "good or not", after all who says art has to be good or bad, it can be so many other things. :-)

E = MC^2

Few people get it.
Must be crap.

I guess you could define success as making stuff that no one wants if you really wanted.

Selling means having more time for your art.

Not selling means getting a day job (or two).

Money? Who needs money? Not artist! It ruins thier creativity and image.

Not so fast Ed, marketing your own art is akin to being your own lawyer and you know what they say about that. Tell me one thing that can steal your time more than trying to market your own art?

I would have to make a distinction between day job and one's own business, not having a nine to five job goes a long way to having plenty of time for your art without having to worry about selling art to make a living.

Selling art is just selling art, it say's little about the true value and purpose of the art. Selling assembly line "type art" even more so has little to do about art's true value and purpose, selling POD art is perhaps the longest shot of all which would probably require that you have a day job or two or three. :-)

"Money? Who needs money?"

Well, given this a POD site, and not an online gallery, I guess all of us here ;-)

~Richard
http://www.reevephotos.com

Agree with Floyd 100% on this one.

I think Floyd is on target as well and it basically was what Poons was saying. Art and business are not the same thing although there is nothing wrong with either one.

I agree Ronald! Two different animals. :-)

In an offline world most shows and galleries are for painters, not photographers.
My primary motivation (to join FAA) was (a) to make sure that as many people as possible will see my art, and (b) to validate a value of my art somehow. It was not about business of selling art.

(a) I have 96 thousand visitors so far in 2 years but most visitors are bots. I do not think I accomplish my goal. It did not work much without a big marketing efforts, for which I did not had time so far.

(b) That worked. I could compare my work with others. I got favorable comments from other members of FAA and I got some sales.

It increasingly looks to me that making sure that your art is seen is highly dependent on your business ability to market your art or whatever it is. Still I'm not sure how to put a $ value here.

Yuri,

RE:....." make sure that as many people as possible will see my art,"

My goal for the last 50 years,with my form of art, was to garner as many reactions as I can.

Reactions: Positive- Negative,....Profound- Frivolous,...Serious- Humorous....as long as they were reactions and not mere dismissal.

That is why I got out there and Hustled...Making sure I was at venues where the maximum of the general public would just happen to pass by my art.

Of course, a Sale always puts a stamp on it.


Now, here on the internet, I haven't yet found that place where the general public would just happen to pass by my art

For some reason, it just doesn't have the same effect online as in person but I have had my best success doing like you Roger,in person. Sculpture is especially limited in it's effect online, at least for me it has been.

The internet a very crowded space, like the toilet paper isle in a grocery store, to many choices available, when you give people to many choices it becomes harder to select one.:-)