Here is a mellow piece of art. Or what *I* consider to be mellow. A few characters floating around in space, with no real background to speak of. To my mind, this isn't really the kind of piece that will resonate with people.
But I've learned to stuff my preconceptions about my art in the trash because-
It turns out that I am a horrible judge of what pieces of mine will resonate with people. Sometimes the drawings that I think are just so-so get a HUGE reaction, and vice versa. I've learned (at this late point in my life) that my job is to draw a whole lot, and then to throw absolutely everything at the viewing audience so that they can do their job, which is to decide what's worthwhile and what's not.
True story about an artist who had no idea which of his works would resonate or not:
Rod Stewart, the singer (look him up, you young whippersnappers) almost didn't have a career, but he put one of the songs he thought was pretty lame, Maggie May, on the B side of one of his singles. A bleary eyed late-night radio DJ mistakenly put it on one night, and the song took off like a rocket. Rod Stewart got to have his singing career after all, but he had to learn to put ALL of his songs out there where people could hear them. After that, he learned what his job really was.
Joan Rivers put it another way. She said that when she was young and just starting out, her intention was to be a great actress. But just in case the actress thing didn't open up for her, she learned how to dance, how to sing and as an afterthought, how to tell some jokes up on stage -and that turned out to be her big break. She has often said, "I wanted to get into the world of show business, and I was smart enough to walk through any door door that opened for me". Wise woman, Joan Rivers.
So yeah, the lesson is to put it all out there. Even if you think it's only so-so.
No comments:
Post a Comment