Art Ruled by Jealousy & Collusion

Just like every other discipline, like any other vocation and avocation, art is ruled by jealousy, politics, and collusion.  Graft happens, too, but the biggest hurdle facing artists, especially GOOD artists, is the buddy system, formally called collusion, and that outright green monster, jealousy.

Why do I say that good artists especially suffer?  Because most other artists striving for a name are immediately hostile.  Bad artists, after all, are no competition…or so many think.  However, the fact is, good artists will often fail to gain any sort of recognition of their creations while really BAD artists flourish.  How can this be?  Because bad artists have to work really hard to get good reviews, so they learn fast how to be “the squeaky wheel,” tormenting their targeted victims until, driven to distraction, the solicited individual finally says and prints anything to get them out of the hair.  One down and reward in hand, the artist has learned a valuable lesson, and the next, and the next after the next target is even easier to persuade. 

Here are some things to consider: The worst people to critique your work are other hungry artists seeking a place in the limelight for themselves.  The worst contests to enter are those controlled by people who have a vested interest in art, theirs or someone else’s…even several someone else’s.

Fact of human social networks: Tribalism, cronyism, and payola.  Or, said another way, blood is thicker than water (first family), and water is more substantive than air (friends and acquaintances next), and gold trumps all (a banana for the mouth beats blood and water every deal.)

You can wear yourself playing the game.  Make new rules.  Or just ignore it all, and create your art without the frenzy.  Personally, I play by my own rules and ignore the fuss.  I’ll socialize and laugh out loud doing it, offending many.  And that’s as it should be.  Most are so very taken with themselves.  My home town is a great example.  They are much hot air, much puffed up (and completely false) authority, and, like the balloon they imitate, they deflate swiftly and easily.

Advice: Play your own game, make your own rules, and be genuine.  Don’t be like every other slavering fool out there.  Please.  Genuine is so rare that it makes its own splash in this world of pretentiousness.

Originally posted by DLKeur on her art blog on June 22, 2007. Copyright inheres.

Copyright 2007 D.L.Keur &/or F.W.Lineberry, http://www.zentao.com . All rights reserved. Reprint rights granted ONLY if linked and credited.