Artist Dilemma #3

You've been painting nonobjective work in this year's trendy colors, and you have the unsettling feeling that there may be more to art than pleasing the masses and sales. You reach way back and try to remember why it was that you became an artist anyway. Was it a passionate desire to follow the market, or was it wanting to communicate something deeper and more authentic? What would you say through your work if you were in touch with the authentic part of yourself and had the opportunity to express it? Do people's responses to your authenticity matter?

Artist Dilemma #2

You are advised that the color palette for 2008 will be polar bear buff, snow white, ice blue, and bright sun yellow, and the theme will be the polar ice caps because of people's concern about the environment and global warming. Yet you have a strong urge to paint using deep dark eggplant, luscious magenta, and cerulean blue. Do you follow your heart, or do you set your desire aside and follow the market?

This is a tough one. On the one hand, I'm not painting so that my work can languish in oblivion and be stored stacked against my living room walls. I want people to like my work and to purchase paintings. On the other hand, I find it difficult to paint someone else's vision.

What's an artist to do?

Artist Dilemma #1

You recently completed a body of work, and the response was lukewarm. What motivates you to start on a new body of work?

This is one of the difficulties of being an artist. I work alone in my studio everyday, in isolation. I don't know what the response to my work will be until I unveil an entire series, either by doing a show or by doing a mailing.

I can ask my friends what they think, but most of them don't really know about art and the art world. They say that my work looks great, because they know me and they like me. The reaction of people who don't know me is different.

I've never before had a job where my work wasn't valued and appreciated. Sometimes the art world is kind and accepting, and sometimes it's not. Without a doubt, this is the most challenging job I've ever had.