copyright 2007 RED PAINTING & Thoughts by Shanart
Darin and I had a conversation with some local artists the other day about how to promote our art better, the changing economy of art and its place in society, especially in our local community, and how to incorporate our art better into our daily lives. “Really, why don’t paintings sell as well as they used to sell?” and ” Why don’t people buy from the local galleries more than they do when our city is so rich in the arts?” we asked. “What are potential art buyers and galleries looking for?”
We talked about ways to make the right kind of art, meet the right people, etc… including subscribing to an artdeadline service and submitting work to three places a day, the popularity of photos and new technology in art, being published in books, attending conferences where an artist might be noticed, knowing “people”. We were in the print room, and started discussing multiples and size of work. T said her professor always said, “If you can’t make it good, make it large; and if you can’t make it large, make it red.” We all laughed…
Why is that so true? Maybe when you make a huge piece of artwork, it takes conviction, space, supplies, time, a larger potential for failure. And why is there so much power in the color red? It symbolizes passions of all sorts, blood, love, sometimes rage to me, life. Maybe people are attracted to the aesthetic of “large” or “red” because it carries a strength of life that is desirable. There is a kind of transcendant truth of conviction that we all desire. We all want to experience the fullest life possible and have the biggest impact.
We may not have reached a formula for instant success in the arts, but we connected, we laughed, we brainstormed. That in itself is an impact. We are in this together. Hopefully, we can make this thing bigger, better and more meaningful when we do it together.It takes guts and conviction and passion to be an artist or to do anything we dream of… Why take the time to make art when so few artists make it as artists? It’s what we love. And to keep on doing it,
we have to have conviction about something, or else we wouldn’t consider putting ourselves, our egos or our work on the line all the time. As we do, we grow as artists and look to each other and those before us who made it! We examine who we are and why we make art what we want to say with our art to the world, and whether to say it in bold red swaths, larger than life or in a myriad of other ways that don’t hit people over the head all at once.
b.a.l.m 