success and failure: the life of a painter,artist

Do you judge your success by how many times you have passed a jury? How many one man shows you have had? What are your criteria for evaluating art work?Creativity is such a bandied about concept,admen think of themselves as creative,as do business personnel, social workers,, are you really creative ? Are they truly creative? Has technical skill aided in your pursuit of immortality?How important is self-eduction in this chase for eminence?

Soda....Good questions!

Success is likely dependent on how much experience
you have in your art career and the kinds of goal you set for yourself.

As an emerging artist I faced rejection constantly from juried shows.
It was extremely discouraging at a time when one needs encouragement! Once I figured out what was missing in my work, I began to get accepted and that was "success" to me then.

Now I measure "success" more by the quality of the shows ( Just received a rejection from one I really wanted, ouch!)

Success for some, is measured by sales....

A common difficulty for all of us is to have the fortitude to strive in the face of rejection. One also has to realize that each jury or gallery will have different criteria in mind when evaluating work.

Juried exhibitions have a penchant for rejecting me too.
Shepaints,I know what´s missing in THEIR eyes but I´m not going to change what I do to become accepted.

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Shepaints and Hebba, congratulations on fine attitudes regarding inevitable rejections. If someone LOVED something I painted but that I did not like, or if someone HATED a painting that gave me great fulfillment, I hope my response would be the same. I do want to learn from others' responses. If they can tell me what it is about a painting they hate or love that would be "interesting" information. It may help me to see my work with greater perspective, but it would, I hope, not cause me to change my own evaluation of such works. We artists must be our most important (perhaps our only) judges. That's why I feel for the artist who seeks to make a living by means of art.

hebba......I did not change my work to suit "them"......The serial
rejections which I faced led me to the realization that the work I was submitting was insubstantial in itself. It required a greater commitment than I was making at the time. Once I grasped that, I made a clearer statement with my work, invested vastly more time
and began to be accepted in juried exhibitions.

Some shows are extremely conservative in nature and other's right off the edge. I've been rejected and accepted by both!

JL....Your views support Shakespeare's adage..." to thine own self be true". Yes, oneself is both one's toughest audience and critic.

I submitted a few things to galleries in LA and had various levels of NO in response....places completely losing my submission, not at this time letters, deadly silence. This was discouraging as it took a lot of effort, as you all know, to submit slides or photos in a pleasing way. On the other hand, I got
a couple of one person shows, albeit at not-real-galleries. All part of growing pains.

Reminds me that my business partner from the old days..(I had a short lived gallery with her in the seventies, and she was the good painter, the mfa, etc.)
once made a 4 x 6 foot painting-collage of all her rejection letters, in that case for applications to teach at local universities.

Now I have another gallery and am in the position of dealing with artists who want to show with us. We have a fairly easy out, a true one, that the work doesn't fit into our self chosen category, art about the landscape. We have even changed our minds. There is a woman painter now scheduled to show with us that my business partner and I both thought was very good, but not Us...relatively spiritually oriented work, with high level of graphic ability. (We are more the mad painterly sorts.) We told her the truth back a few years ago, that she was clearly a developed artist and surely one of the most interesting artists in our area, but not a great fit with us - and to please keep in touch and let us follow your work. Yep, her work has only gotten more interesting, and she has changed a smidge, which she was probably moving into anyway, and we have changed a smidge, getting tired of ...frankly, our selfprescribed zone.

I expect somebody here to rail against me on this, and I can supply the railing against myself, as a painter. But we need to like what we show and there you are. We are not so smart, you see, as gallery owners...we should show what is totally innovative and interesting, whether we like it or not. Eh, good idea, go to it, folks.

We react to work with a critical eye, yeah, but first there is a visceral reaction.

So, I am guessing that judges for shows do some of that, there is a quick weeding based on their sense of what is interesting or ordinary. And some level of crapshoot.

Really, I do agree with the adage to thine own self be true. Or is it thine old self be true?

Life is short, paint the way you want. But keep looking, and your painting wants may change...

I guess I should add that our gallery is booked up to the end of our lease...and the building is for sale...sigh. Some of the most interesting shows are ahead...if we can survive in these economic slows...and if we don't have to move with a new owner coming in with building renovations.

My point is, I guess, that there is rejection and failure at all levels, if you view it that way. I'd rather look at it as the sheer wonder of making art and seeing art (and never mind it being in a gallery).

"I made a clearer statement with my work, invested vastly more time
and began to be accepted in juried exhibitions."-shepaints.

This I like.
Five months on a carving is too long for the shows here!!
Osso,some fine comments there.
Don´t have time right now to contribute to this VERY interesting thread.

Five months on a carving is too long for the shows here!!

hebba.....it sounds like you need to find new venues for your
work....

One of my acquaintances opened up her own gallery but that takes $$$$$. Then there is the whole question of publicity and getting an audience.... also a problem for "vanity shows" when one rents
exhibition space.

success and failure of the artist
If you are still active in art and can say you are anything but, a dilletante. You are a success.Those that can confidently say they are pros. Thats success! You shouldn't be measured by the IRS. Quote : Picasso said it is 99% tenacity 1 % talent.

success
I would imagine, ,from what has been said so far, that one way to reduce the number of rejections one suffers is to evaluate galleries with respect to the kinds of works they choose to sell. The amount of work and time visiting galleries and sizing them up may be less than that spent in making and sending slides, etc.--at least it would lessen the amount of rejections--IF that's a problem. I've seen some of the work of Shepaints and Osso. Wonderful work, but I can't imagine that EVERY gallery would be interested in the TYPE of work they do. They may want to hang their works in their own homes, but as a matter of business, no.

I am without speech here, great topic sodabred. My art career started decades ago in the illustration end, so I only did what I could deliver and that which made me feel comfortable . I am obsessive about deadlines controlling my work, I dawdle around thinking about my approach and only get rolling as a deadline for a (show, hanging,etc approaches).
My juried stuff is a mixed bag. ive been accepted and rejected by museum shows and have developed an attitude that , simply stated is
"i know what im doing and i seek shows more to expand my market than to gain affirmation"...Crass? you bet.
A rejection is a missed oportunity that may take a year or more to come around again, and Im 52. The only thing I regret is that I couldnt follow 2 or more paths in life with equal passions. my mortality clock is ticking and , as much as my kids, i feel I want my art, to be my legacy.
our separate. Art is damn unique. the ideas are all out there until your head runs into one and then your obsessed by the eventual product of the ideas. Right now Im in a production frenzy with a body of work just about homeless people on the streets of Philly and Lancaster. ive added, in the last few weeks , some calligraphy to my work, sayings from Steinbeck that seem appropriate to the subjects. I know Ill get done with this and move on to something else soon , but for now...Its got me hooked like a madman.

I find myself sketching in meetings, in the field with heavy equipment, and in the lab. ive always done this , so Im not neglecting safety or my projects. Art allows me to multitask and not know it.

As far as visiting galleries, ive been using an agent since last Autumn.in this brief time She has opened many more doors and has made it very obvious that I need to produce more work.
she is dealing with a small group of artists(about 10) and i am one of three who shes been placing in galleries frequently. Considering her fees, the gallerey cut, the costs of framing, Im probably only realizing about 30 to 35% of the price of the paintings. But Im having a ball, and all this is in-between my gardening and fishing.(and A2k and abuzz time)

success
Wow, Farmerman: that's success.

i didnt mean it to sound like puffery but, having had my share of rejections, i only dwell on them for that jury and how Ive missed an opportunity for that time. juries have a tough job and , sometimes i elect for work that is perhaps too trite for their definition and understanding of the assignment. i dont get all bummed out by rejection. i found that most jurors dont like to discuss their rejects, unless you do it through someone other than yourself. This kind of feedback is vital to the artist. weve gotta know where we fell down, and , more importantly, ive gotta know why i was selected. I always try to get feedback both ways.

As a gallery owner, I see a lot of "stuff" come through the doors. Like Osso, I have to figure out a way to say "no thanks" most of the time. Some of the work just doesn't fit with the gallery and it's not fair to the artist to put his/her piece in a gallery where it will look out of place. I usually reccommend some of the other galleries in the area who show more traditional art. Then there's the novice who really does merit constructive suggestions. I don't mind giving it if I think the artist has talent and deserves to be helped. I sure appreciate constructive criticism. As for juried shows, not getting in doesn't bother me one bit. I used to be an actress. Rejection is part of the game. One time this producer told me he was looking for a "Goldie Hawn" for his film. I looked him straight in the eye and told him to go hire Goldie Hawn. Art and success are about digging deep inside yourself and pulling out something better each time you create, never becoming complacent or lazy with your technique or insight. It's like good food. You want it all the time. I am successful. I do what I love and I never say, "Oh that's good enough."

"Vanity" some say the whole game is ego and vanity!

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Yes, Kayla: "success" should (imho) include a commitment to the future as well as the present, a desire to risk/experiment, to learn/unlearn and to grow/expand, and to be content in this on-going, open-ended fulfillment.

JL, we should do as you say. However,art, like any field, has an aspect of "having made it". Once that occurs, the artists I remember, become very conservative , not experimenting anymore.

Goya ansd Picasso were the only 2(that I am remembering off the top of my head) that kept breaking new ground through their later careers.Picasso , I think only did this cause he was a horny little bastard who needed fresh .

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Farmerman, yes, I'm talking about ideals. But you and Kayla have made statements indicating at least a significant degree of success--according to those ideals. I can understand why an artist who achieves financial success by means of some style of expression would want to continue with that style (Man cannot live by art alone). BUT, s/he should at least also have his private, truly artistic life, one in which s/he produces works with less concern for what the market will reward. There is no reason s/he can't ALSO paint for the market.