Artistic revelations are a regular occurrence for all creative people. The opportunity for revelations to appear for an artist, as their individual creative territory is explored, is immense.
I am intrigued by how insistent I have been over the years to maintain my identity as an artist. I am fortunate not that I stumbled across found and recycled objects and saw their artistic potential – but that I had the courage to envision an entirely new art form and risk ridicule, and my reputation as a fine artist, to create this new body of work.
There is no doubt that artists have an extra sensitivity towards life. In fact, it is a necessary component of the artist’s quality that enables him or her to respond creatively to life’s experiences. What initiates or develops this sensitivity is, of course, an individual thing. In my case, I believe my sensitivity, as an artist was a by-product of my biological father’s suicide when I was a toddler. This tragedy, and its impact on my mother and siblings, has fuelled this ‘extra sensitivity’ to life.
After thirty active years in the industry, I have discovered that being an artist comes with a certain territory that is anathema to most other occupations and careers. This unique territory is singular for each artist and provides its own opportunity for revelations.
The artist’s journey has many rewards, some obvious and some quite hidden, only to be miraculously revealed towards the end of a career. Through attention to core issues at the beginning of the journey and continued focus throughout a lifetime of being an artist, where clear renewed definition of yourself as a professional in your field, has provided you with the confidence needed to envision your future without fear, you will see these rewards come your way. With this necessarily precise attention, you will always see results.
To prompt yourself into action you need to have a strong enough intent. You need to make sure that your effort is mutually nourishing and is essentially beneficial to others. You need to know that you’re capable of putting in constant effort and preferably have this effort be inspired over a long period, and then you will see the results of your effort.
On a deep level, creating wealth for example, is adding value. A state of not being divided internally will automatically attract a state of prosperity, you could call this a state of ‘Oneness’, and for a creative person this state has to be paramount for success.
I found my own unique way through both my creativity and by developing an inner awareness. In order to have a form of creativity that is largely free of self-obsessive angst and tragedy, it has been necessary for me to work on my own personal growth. This has been tremendous through resolving issues that are essentially outside the creative process.
Once you put the thought together as an idea you send it out to the universe. In some way or another you end up creating your own reality, so why not have a clear picture of what you want and why, and then afterwards, see what comes. A far better way to live than stumbling through random offerings from existence because you weren’t smart enough to create it yourself.
Artists are not taught to consider these things either at most art schools and universities, and more often than not they are not taught these skills by their parents, either by having dysfunctional childhoods in the first place which may be one of the main reasons why they became artists, or because they rebelled against their parents and any positive business sense teachings their parents were offering.
Across Europe there are artist resources in each country, probably such an exhaustive number exist in each country and each major city, that it is pointless to list them all here. Look them up on a need to know basis when you are there and reap the benefits of the insider knowledge you gain and the networking opportunities found. They are priceless.
Career challenges will be things that you begin to look forward to instead of things you dread and avoid. No longer will you undermine your success. The art revelations and insights will naturally bring success, where your own personal reflections and vision will clear obstacles & provide direction. You will most importantly remember to breathe as you have your own unique personal experience & insights and develop your central artistic concerns with the confidence you always wanted and somewhere know you always had.
I am enjoying my role as a mediator between nature and humans, expressing universal truths in my work and inspiring viewers as much as I am able.
I think this includes aspects of my career as an artist. In my own eyes, and in the eyes of those I have successfully convinced through my relentless media releases and PR campaigns, I am highly successful on most levels. In the meantime life goes on and different things become important in a career; sometimes this can mean total shifts in emphasis and direction.
There are also times where we as artists feel we may have undermined our success by standing in the way of opportunities in some way, or that on reflection we may have preferred to approach one process or another in a vastly different way. Whatever the case, we experience challenges in our art careers for one reason only and that is to learn, develop and grow not only as an artist but also as a person.
Research the gallery, find out who is the director, and write a letter of introduction with details about your website, if you have one, and include a CD, though these days I think it’s preferable to send some good quality photographs as well.
One of the first things that I’d recommend for an artist when they’re contacting a gallery for the first time is to never do it cold.
Now it’s not a case of all bad stories. Of course there are exceptions and this is why I mention these cases. In my experience I have had some of the most amazing connections and experiences with certain art galleries and their directors. I remember one art gallery director who had a premium gallery in Western Australia and I was a member of his stable. He knew I had a certain amount of debt at the time and wanted to see how I would make my art being completely free of debt and certain of a regular income. So he cleared my debts for me and put me on a retainer, which lasted for well over a year. During this time I ended up producing some work, which to this day I am still very proud of. It was critically acclaimed and helped to establish me at the time. I will always be grateful to this particular person for his kindness and generosity.
You need to prove yourself over time and build your resume one line at a time, establishing consistent track records of successful shows. You need to convince gallery directors that you’re committed to making art. You must impress curators and critics. And you must demonstrate you’re capable of doing what’s expected – selling well and selling consistently. Galleries don’t establish artists’ reputations – they only enhance them.
If you document your lecture or your public speaking engagement you’ll be doing a few things at once. Firstly you will be creating an archive, which is irreplaceable. This archive can be converted into a DVD in a reasonably simple manner at your own computer. This DVD once produced, can then be either sold at future speaking engagements or through your website. I can’t stress enough how important it is.
