by Jody Coughlin
The sparrow of humility in the hand of a painter is worth more than any flock of honking geese flying over head.
I’ve been racking my brain, attempting to forage for some kind of dating advice for you all you gents out there. I-as they say-got nothin’. My tastes border on the absurd and unconventional at the best of times. I think Ted Danson in the most magnificent new HBO series Bored to Death is hot as hell. In his own way, of course. Then again, the cute little writer guy on the same show certainly holds his own in the hot department…and now that you mention it-the illustrator has a certain je ne sais quoi…
Ok. Wait. I have a crush on most guys. I am a true lover of men, not in terms of promiscuity, rather in terms of admiration. So, gentleman, just keep doing what you are doing and I will quietly (or not) observe from some distant corner somewhere. I can’t help myself, let alone all your lady friends out there. Enough said.
In other news…
It is time to get back to the world of all that is artistic (much to the relief of the editors of this site, I am sure). I am more or less a stay-at-home mom these days and have been for most of the time that I have been a parent, minus a stint here or there. I, at the moment, am not earning a steady paycheck. What I do is rely on the sales of my artwork and my writing and that wonderful little element in my life called husband. Without him, I would be the very definition of a starving artist. With him? I have lots to eat. Thankfully.
I, however, am the type of gal who gets a real kick out of earning my own quid so eventually, I will go back to work full time, when my daughter is a little older. Or, maybe, just maybe, within a few years I will be able to make a full time living selling my art and my writing on a regular basis (oh, to sleep perchance to dream). Actually, this is my dream, my goal. If it all falls through, and it may, I’ll probably end up at a call centre somewhere.
One thing I have been focusing on lately, is marketing. I have heard it said that a good artist should not necessarily study art, rather a good dose of business education is more important because, after all, selling what you make is a form of entrepreneurship. Artists must know how to market themselves. It is within this category in the life of an artist that I fall flat. Marketing myself makes me nauseous. I try it, but I never feel like I am much good at it.
In these modern times, we are rather lucky. Gone are the days where we have to sit in front of a television while commercial after commercial after commercial blasts its filthy face into our existence. Talk about offensive? The stuff written in Dear Asshole is risqué, for sure-but nobody is forcing anybody to read it. I remember when I was a kid though, fully immersed in an episode of Voltron and then some stupid commercial about some stupendous laundry detergent ripped me out of my animated reverie (I had a huge crush on the guy with the white hair in that show… What?!). Now that, my friends, is offensive. The commercial, not the crush. So, lest I come across as my own pathetic attempt at commercialism, I abhor the art of the self-promotion.
And then there are the types…Oh, we all know them. Probably by name if we are honest. You know what I am talking about, here. The type of people that incessantly talk about themselves and how spectacular what they are making/doing is compared to the rest of the blasé masses. There are artists out there that are so in your face about how special they are that it makes me (at least) want to literally vomit in the worst possible way. Am I like that? I sincerely hope not (if you see me getting mighty, if you see me getting high, knock me down. I’m not bigger than life).
These in your face types remind me of a guy I dated briefly in high school. Well, I was in high school, he (ahem) was not. When I first met this guy he did nothing but talk, talk, talk about his prowess with the ladies. I, being recently jilted by my boyfriend at the time, decided this guy might have something I needed. Well, as it turned out, all that talking covered up a few facts. For one, the guy lied like an oriental rug on an overdose of valium and two, his prowess was about as enigmatic as a box of kleenex. I was naive at the time, but I did learn this: those that talk the most about who and what they are, usually, aren’t much at all in the end and this guy was an idiot.
What self-admiration and swagger does is alienate people. At first, out of sincere curiosity, folks might be won over by this particular brand of charm, sure. In the end, when artists constantly talk about their process and what it all means to present day society and yada yada, I think it ends up alienating people. If the art cannot speak for itself, then it’s time to head back to the drawing board. A simple artist’s statement is all anyone ever really wants or needs in the end.
I worry the most about the fledgling artist/writer/musician who maybe just attempted their first serious piece. In the face of so much bluster, their courage may fall dead in its tracks. Nothing is as daunting as trying to make your mark as an artist in the shadow of some other artist who is determined to stay in the limelight come hell or high water. It should not be this way. Ultimately, this kind of behavior ends up killing more art than it generates and if that is the case then we all lose in the end.
On the flip side of this, I’ve met artists who have so much talent that it makes me want to cry in the best possible way, but when the gallery doors are closed or the stage lights are off, you would never know it. Some of the most humble people in the world would knock your socks off in the ability department. I am not too sure where I fit in in all of this, somewhere comfortably close to the humble side of things, I hope. Art should not be an elitist side-show. It should be completely accessible. Come one, come all.
As for marketing. Is it a necessary evil? Unfortunately, yes. It is. Everybody and their dog seems to being doing it these days simply because we can. A Facebook account is free, a blog is free, selling your work on various commerce sites like Etsy (for example) costs next to nothing. So, why not market yourself? There is a way to do it and then there is a way to do it, though. I say go ahead, give it your best shot. We are all very small fish swimming in a vast ocean. Why should the advertising giants have all the fun? All I am saying is, be careful. There are a lot of seedling, baby artists out there with just as much talent as you (and me). Talk about your art, sure. But gently and with a dose of humility and kindness. Any truly successful artist has worked extremely hard to get where they are today and those are the ones that nary utter a sound. As for the bragger types? Move out of the limelight you self-inflating arses. Let the rest of the world catch a ray or two for a change. Wait a minute… That was mean wasn’t it? Yup. Truth hurts. I can’t help it. That is how I feel.
