http://clicks.robertgenn.com/aggressive-artist.php

I will try to keep this short, but I am a bit offended by this letter. I feel like a kid sitting on a bank fishing with a cane pole and a worm when a fly fisherman with a $400 rod and hand tied flies walks by going “Tsk, tsk.” The days of working for a corporation like IBM from when you leave college until you retire with a pension are over, and correspondingly, the “gallery system” of an art career with the artist being above and removed from the “commercial” portion are probably over, at least for the majority of us. We can’t all be big league players, but it is nice to make a career out of doing what you love.

Our work may not hang in museums and may not meet some critic or other artists standards, but when one of my wife’s clients leaves our studio in tears after picking up a portrait they had commissioned, she has made a connection with another human that artists hanging in museums may have never done. And after all, don’t we all espouse art as “communication?”

An interesting thing about selling your work. It no longer sits in the studio and you create more. And that’s how you get better. So I can work to being on “top of my craft” by getting out and selling my work, not sitting in the studio or hiding behind a tree.

By definition, you can’t that there aren’t any undiscovered geniuses. They haven’t been discovered, so unless you know all the geniuses…

He quotes Edward Bulwer Lytton:
“It is astonishing how little one feels poverty when one loves.”

Regarding the PS, I would like to know how Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the Lord Lytton experienced poverty in his life. Also not that the Bulwer-Lytton Ficton Competition is named after him. It rewards bad writing.

Woody Allen also said that eighty percent of success was just showing up, so get out of the studio and into the “real” world.

I am currently at a show, it is not an art show. I am painting and selling my paintings. Directly to the people who will hang them in their homes and enjoy them. I am trying to “sell out” my art while I am here, so I don’t have to load back up and take it home.

Stephen Filarsky – Plein Air Painter
Equestrian Landscapes

www.sfilarsky.com
www.portraitsnc.com
www.1hundredpaintings.blogspot.com

And my reply to Steve’s comments:
Robert Gen has, in the past, made some good points….but I do not subscribe to him simply because he reminds me too much of my college professors…(who, years later are painting exactly what they told us not to paint, sculpt, create btw)

There is more than a small amount of Guru in many of his posts- Sort of like the Beatle’s guru from the late 60′s and 70′s…the “what is art and why do you need to make money and why are we here?” crowd.

In other words, his thinking is HIS thinking yet it has the power to hurt and dissuade artists from creating on whatever level they wish to create. It is one reason why I will not allow critiques and snide comments on the AP …NO ONE should have the power to act like today’s media and attack someone else’s way of life or way of creating art.

And yes, it is easy to preach “art for art’s sake” when your belly is full and your bills are paid without effort on your….so the quote by the English lord was, in my opinion, stupid.

Now, I am off to the real world of the working artist……..maybe we should just keep it our secret?;)

Most artists have fallen victim to the 20th century adversion to “selling one’s art” .   But the  expansion of the Internet, ease of accessibility, moderate pricing and a new generation of users (who can use a computer from the cradle) has added a new dimension and opened endless possibilities to the 21st century artist!

So why is there still such a hesitancy among many artists in regards to the words “selling or marketing?” It takes as much effort to sell trash as it does treasure!

Below is an excerpt from another Board that I peruse and I loved it!

I read a brilliant quote / analogy to the artist vs salesman aspect of life.. And it is something that I see in websites every day..

That little bit brought a lot of life in to focus for me.. Many people say that Rachel Rae can’t cook, yet she can “sell” what she does.. Always strive to be the best you can be at what you do, for me it’s jewelry, but never forget that you still have to “sell” to be successful..

For some artists such as Thomas Kincaid, (an example of brilliant marketing to the masses), a professional marketer took the artist by the hand.  For other artists, it may be the use of an Art Gallery. For others still, a concentrated effort on word of mouth.

Regardless of HOW you decide to sell your art product, your website needs to be more than a brochure. It needs to have art that can be purchased online in some format.  Take the time to visit merchant accounts online and learn how to offer this to your clients.  We like to use Paypal and the merchant store format that goes along with it!