Your Art Has No Value

My Mother hated what I do. Truly, I don’t think she understood what it was and why I’m so passionate about it. Instead of asking me to help her understand, she was very negative about all of it.

I’m not saying art has no value, I’m just saying yours doesn’t.

The stuff that’s in museums is great. Your work isn’t in museums.

Remember, everyone wants a Van Gogh on their wall. No one want their kid to be Van Gogh.

My Mother hated what I do. Truly, I don’t think she understood what it was and why I’m so passionate about it. Instead of asking me to help her understand, she was very negative about all of it.

“You need to find something more secure. You need something with benefits. You need a regular job like everyone else. Stop trying to be different.”

Sorry Mom. I can’t do it.

Our society in general doesn’t value art or passion, in any form. It’s all about cash and accumulating wealth.

Too many parents discourage their children from doing what they want, what will make them happy. Of course parents want their children to be comfortable, and secure. To them, security is more important than happiness.

We’re told we’ll grow out of certain loves. Often we don’t. A friend who’s been teaching horse back riding for decades told me that thirty years ago, on her wedding day, her parents told her soon to be husband, “Don’t worry, she’ll grow out of the horse thing”. Well she didn’t, and has made a wonderful life for herself and her family by not growing out of the “horse thing”.

“If you end up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.” - Frank Zappa

Why do so many people think it’s important to tell kids/others, not to follow their dreams? They don’t always say it like that, but that is the intention. “You’re no Steve Jobs! You’re no Picasso! You’re no Spielberg!”.

Pick out any “successful” person and tell others who are in the same “industry” that they don’t have the same talent. And you might be right. Maybe they’re better and more talented than Steve Jobs, Picasso, or Spielberg. Did you ever think about that?

I wonder how often the Jobs, Picassos, and Spielbergs, were told they weren’t as good as someone else, and they should give it up? Find something more stable.

Musicians work really hard on their music and get it out there, and some asshole who manages them, works at a record label, or worse, has a streaming service, makes more money off their music then the ones who created it. We have all heard the Badfinger story, (if not, you can find it here)

or others, where someone has multiple huge hits and they’re broke.

Is that fair? It all depends on who you talk to.

During the pandemic people were clamoring for new music, films, and television shows. They wanted new things to listen to or watch. They wanted to be entertained and large companies put up a lot of money to get new shows into production. Were they concerned about making quality shows? Maybe. But they were more concerned about making great profits while they had a captive audience. And they did.

Not every person who pursues art as their life is going to be talented. Most of them will not turn out to be good, let alone great. Does that mean we should stop them from trying? And it’s always under the guise of, “I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

If being an artist doesn’t work for someone, shouldn’t they be the one to determine that? And how do you define their success? Is it totally a monetary thing? What about the joy they get from creating? Does that matter? There was a time that many critics thought Picasso was making a huge mistake during what we now call his “Blue Period”. If he had listened to those critics we would have missed out on some of his best work.

Just because we don’t immediately see the value in someone’s work doesn’t mean it has no value. And who are we to decide what work is important, or even good?

“Art is to look at not to criticize.” Edgar Allan Poe

I question the motives of people who sit on the sidelines and tell those who are working hard to accomplish their goals, or dreams, that they aren’t good enough. I object to others telling you that you can’t do it, mostly because they couldn’t do it, and just maybe they don’t want you to become more successful than they are.

That’s why the thing I hate most about social media and the internet is all of the keyboard “critics” who feel they have the right to criticize others work.

It’s kind of like those people who say, “Our generation had the best music, fashions, cars,” or whatever. “This new stuff is awful.” That is your opinion. Just because when you were younger, you had music, fashion, and cars you loved, doesn’t make it the best. Your parents, and their parents, felt the same way about their stuff. I get it if you don’t like the music or films that are being made now-a-days, but the new stuff isn’t being made for you or your generation. It is being made for their contemporaries.

It takes a different kind of personality to want to dedicate themselves to their art, whatever art that may be, and to live with the decision to do that. I have been “financially challenged” most of my life. I have had good years and I’ve had horrible years financially. I know my mother was trying to look out for me to the best of her ability. But even though I was her son, we were not alike.

If another writer or filmmaker asks me to critique their work, I am not going to use words like good or bad. If something doesn’t work in my mind I’m going to ask them questions about it so hopefully they can see what problems there might be in their work and they can decide if they wish to make changes or not. That’s all up to them. If they like something I don’t like or understand, it is their prerogative to change it, or not.

There is no shame in trying something and not succeeding. And if you give it your best and come to your own conclusion that your art isn’t working, and a steady pay check and security is right for you, then go do it.

We put too much emphasis on success. I don’t know why if something doesn’t work out people refer to it as failing. It is not failure. It’s learning something new and giving yourself the tools to keep moving forward and learning more than you knew before.

Stop discouraging people! Encourage them in their pursuits. If you say something positive about someone’s work, you never know, maybe that is the thing that encourages them to keep creating and it could lead to some sort of artistic breakthrough.

I am not an optimist in many phases of my life. I feel as though I’m a realist. But I know the power of positive encouragement and in these difficult days don’t we all need positive encouragement?

Thanks for reading and subscribing. Have a great week.

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