A FB photographer friend of mine recently went on a rant about a project that they had spent a long, hard month working on that only received 300 “Likes”, then erupted when comparing their effort to a shill piece about a pop-icon singer that received close to 100k “Likes”. They wondered out loud why their incredible effort didn’t meet with rousing popular success then decried the value of hard work if it wasn’t going to pay off. I really wish it were that simple, and that easy. Imagine for a moment that ones level of effort did have a direct correlation, not just in the world of art, but also in every endeavor of our lives. It would be a topsy-turvy world. Teachers, peasant farmers, physical laborers of every type, craftspeople, small independent business owners, as well as hands-on parents and volunteers who day in and day out put in incredible effort would rule the roost while the inherited money and country club set would drift to the bottom. It’s a nice visual, but ultimately it is meaningless. Life just doesn’t work that way. Back to art, I remember that in some art history class I took so very long ago, it was pointed out that in the 19th Century it was not altogether uncommon for struggling artists with meager funds at their disposal to have to decide whether to buy paints or to buy food. The committed artists chose paints because their vision for the canvas was their greatest hunger. While commercial success is certainly rewarding in its own right, the real artist is driven to spend their time, effort, and funds perfecting their art. Vincent Van Gogh, some consider to be the greatest painter of the 19th Century, sold only one painting during his lifetime. I’m also reminded of a television program I watched on the BBC way back in the early 1970’s. Andre Previn was the musical director for the London Symphony Orchestra and he produced several wonderful programs on classical music for the BBC. The one that stuck me most was titled “Amadeus Finke, Where Are You Now?” Amadeus Finke was a contemporary of the now more recognizable and famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but that was not always the case. Finke, as evidenced by the commentary, reviews and writers of that time, was considerably more popular and much better received than Mozart. Previn’s program went on to examine several more cases of composers that received popular acclaim during their life, but faded into insignificance after their passing. As a young 20-something at the time, I likened it to the difference between the giants of rock music, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, etc., versus the Top-40 radio artists and it really struck a chord. While the giants did achieve commercial success, they did so on their own terms producing their music. The Top-40 artist achieved a small measure of commercial success based on following a formulaic approach. We remember very few of them today. None of us are guaranteed success in life, nor does a direct correlation exist between one’s level of effort and popularity, commercial or otherwise. A true artist intuitively knows, understands and readily accepts this. We practice our art because it is what and who we are.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 20:59:19 +0000
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