It is difficult to be a painter alone in your studio, no matter how much time you spend there. You have to show your work and engage with an audience, for it is social contact that energises and renews us.
Christopher Allen, Arts Writer, The Australian
Christopher Allen goes on to say that perhaps artists were luckier in earlier times when they were commissioned to paint significant subjects for public places such as churches. Their works had a shared meaning that people understood and that was relevant to the time and place. Artists therefore had a responsive wide audience.
Now, perhaps with the exception of graffiti, art is not so imbedded in the fabric of society. It has become rarified being ‘held’ by esteemed institutions. In contemporary western society at least, you can see fads in art and ‘trending’ artists. There is fierce competition to get a gig at a commercial gallery, or to be part of a prestigious gallery ‘stable.” We speak of ‘the art world’ as if it is quite seperate from the real world.
That leaves an outsider artist like myself, who hasn’t been to art school. but who is serious about her practice, wondering how they can find a way to escape from what Allen calls “the quicksands of solipsism”.
Being an artist is about creating works to be viewed.
Blogging is a partial answer to this question. Never before has it been easier to publish your creative work, be it literary or visual. But you still need to find your audience and that, to a degree, is what this journey in P2 is about.
In the next blog, I will discuss why blogging is only a partial answer for visual artists. I am sure that many people will beg to differ on this, so I’m looking forward to hearing other’s views.
