Avanti!
Warning - long read!
First of all I would like to thank Joey @lastlightsnet for writing the interesting article “The Art of Accepting Failures for Artists”, and the folk at @letstalkphotography for sharing it. Articles with which one agrees wholeheartedly are rarely interesting 😀 It’s the articles that make one stop and think and consider why one disagrees which are the most valuable - so my thanks are entirely genuine.
For I don’t agree with much that the article says, although I can understand the point of view. Let’s take this a step at a time. Any text following in quotation marks and without another source mentioned are from the article itself.
Joey says “The Internet gives an illusion that everybody can be ‘somebody’… but the hard truth is that most of us aspiring artists… remain largely unnoticed for the entire lifetime”
Well, if that illusion really is presented by or through the internet it should be dismissed at once. Of course the vast majority of aspiring artists throughout the ages have remained largely unnoticed, even when in many ways they had a better chance, but the internet has made things much, much worse. Because if you give the internet a hard stare you must surely realise that with a potential audience of billions - and competing in the same arena with the output of many millions of other creators - the chances of remaining unnoticed are enormously increased, not reduced! To give an obvious example, if I take a painting or art print to a small crafter’s market attended by 100 people who know nothing about me or my work, many will enthuse, and the work will almost certainly sell. However, if I make a showcase of that same painting or print online, without having first built up a large loyal audience, knowing an influencer, or investing in publicity, the chances are very high that no one will notice it at all. In reality, most “success” on the internet is a result either of luck (a chance pick-up by an influencer), money (funding publicity) or - as in the real world - knowing someone influential who can promote your work.
What about tumblr, one small corner of the internet. On tumblr some creative people have built up a large following over time and their posts receive attention and hundreds - occasionally thousands - of notes, because they have, in effect, recreated online that relatively small personal audience which almost mirrors real life, with friendships and loyalties developing. One of tumblr’s great virtues is that it facilitates this. Most of the time these creators are reaching the same audience over and over again, and sometimes they have managed to acquire a really large audience. But I see many other tumblr creators, whose work is equally good, getting less than 10 notes per post - they are still lost in the crowd.
But is the “recognition” which is implied by large numbers of notes, indicating reach to a large audience, inherently valuable or a good indicator of quality. Consider the following example of some photos of cats’ faces - a post which at the time of writing has 36,223 notes, a level of “recognition” which most of us can only dream about:
https://mcd0pe.tumblr.com/post/638691316607418368
Also - and I say this without the slightest intention of disparaging the many fine misty photographs published - a good, well-edited misty landscape photograph (to take just one example) can easily gain thousands of notes, even though it looks very much like many other similar photos, and this is true for many other subjects too, including popular landscapes, exotic destinations, cats, etc. etc. Why? Simply because more of the audience likes those subjects than some others. While its true that a very bad photo is unlikely to gain similar recognition, it’s also the case that most of the audience has little interest in technique, and little originality is required, and a very good photo without a popular subject or appearance will usually receive little applause.
And in the case of my own Adventures of Algy @adventuresofalgy, the post which has received by far the greatest number of notes to date - many thousands of notes - is the one out of all his adventures in which Algy himself is least visible. So I consider that “success” a dismal “failure” for the poor fluffy bird!
So what is success? And what is recognition? And does it matter?
I think most people have their own notion of success: this is a psychological feature of their character, and even among artists it will vary. However, Joey specifically says:
“wanting my website to be the go-to resource for blue hour photography. So far, I haven’t seen much success yet, though!”
This is sad, but realising such a precise ambition could never be easy.
(I do realise that in some cultures the question of “success” has a different significance than in others, and that peer group pressures and expectations vary between different societies. My own point of view is of course totally European.)
Poor “old” Joey also says “ I see many of them keeping trying in their 30s or even 40s and beyond without much success, yet still hoping to be noticed one day.” 😀
I distinctly remember, once upon a time, being convinced that life was pretty much over when one reached 40… I know now that the younger one is, the less one can know or understand about aging 😀
Joey also says “In fact, it’s a lot easier and mentally healthier to keep our art as self-satisfaction, but I guess we all have a desire for recognition, competitive instincts, egos, etc. that make us want to go beyond self-satisfaction and be recognised by others.”
I’m going to take issue with some of these statements, partly illustrating by personal experience and partly offering personal opinion.
As all my tumblr friends of more advanced years know only too well, one does not stop wanting one’s art to be noticed when one reaches middle age: if they felt that way, they would not be on tumblr 😀 Naturally I won’t name names, but over the years I’ve watched many tumblr friends, who have progressed well beyond that apparent end point of the mid-40s, create new and interesting work with the very definite desire for it to be appreciated by others. And I applaud that wholeheartedly 👏
Should they stop feeling that way as they get older? Of course not! What is creative and cultural production for if not for the purpose of contributing something, however small, to the great pool of creative works without which all our lives would be infinitely less rich? And how can one do that without being noticed or appreciated? I would say that the desire for one’s creations to be consumed, shared and appreciated is absolutely fundamental to artistic production and part of its necessary driving force - no matter whether one is an “amateur” or a “professional” (a distinction which has little real significance other than to indicate whether someone makes - or tries to make - a living from what they produce). Such a desire should be fostered, not relinquished.
Conversely, I consider the view that art should be make for self-satisfaction to be at best the expression of a hobbyist whose only consideration is to fill their time in an enjoyable way, and at worst positively selfish. Of course the practice of art in any form can be undertaken for various laudable reasons, some of them - like art therapy for those suffering from mental illness, PTSD or physical disability - hugely important to the people in question and having nothing to do with contribution to the general pool of cultural production for general consumption. But that is not what Joey was talking about.
And what about all those unfortunate people to whom Joey refers, who are “keeping trying in their 30s or even 40s and beyond without much success, yet still hoping to be noticed one day.” Here I revert to personal anecdote. For tedious reasons of personal history, I did not attend art school until I was nearly 40, although art was always my primary interest and hobby. Instead I pursued academic studies and worked in a university in my 20s and 30s. Then - at the point where those poor old people who Joey observes are keeping trying - and without the slightest hint of artistic success to my name, far from giving up, I determined to put the situation right, and started from the very bottom, with a Foundation course at art college, gradually working my way up, gaining my Masters degree in my 40s, then going on to teach at art school, win awards for some of my work, and so on. Imagine what course my life would have taken if I had adopted Joey’s point of view, and agreed to consider my art from early middle age onwards as simply a hobby for the purposes of self-satisfaction. Among many, many other consequences, there would be no Adventures of Algy @adventuresofalgy to entertain you now 😀
But to return to the question of success and failure - what are they, and do they matter?
Clearly, if you are an athlete whose driving ambition is to break the world record for the long jump, and you find that your body does not enable you to do so, then by your own criterion you have, unfortunately, failed in achieving that particular goal. But does artistic production have comparable goals? I would say absolutely not, nor should it have.
Joey’s goal with respect to the blue hour photography web site was similar to that of the athlete, and if there is such a precise goal which is not realised, then by the measure set by the person themselves they will say that they have failed, at least in that specific respect. However, I’m very glad to see that Joey says “At the end of the day, failure is bitter, but my love for photography exists above and beyond success and failure.” That’s good, of course, but should the concept of success and failure ever have arisen? And is it not the case that even if the web site did not achieve the level of recognition that Joey was hoping for, the work on it did reach some people and enrich their lives and their own photography? To that extent I would say it was a success and a valuable contribution.
Unfortunately the concepts of success and failure arise far too often in the minds of people who are nevertheless truly creative, and can create terrible blocks to production and motivation. Those concepts should not really exist in that form for artistic people, and in particular, the idea of being the “best” or the “go-to resource” or whatever is misplaced…
Once again I illustrate by a personal example. Back in my dead-end mid-40s (😀) I created a short experimental film which was submitted to numerous film festivals - well over fifty of them, as I recall. The large majority of those festivals rejected it out of hand, some with the most disparaging comments, and some with no comment at all…. Oh no! Total failure! I was the worst… What was the point of going on?
But that the very same film, in the very same year, submitted in the very same way, won a coveted gold award at the prestigious WorldFest Houston, plus top awards at several other film festivals. It was even shown at a festival in the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Wow - my work was the best! What a success for a personal, solo production! My course was set… except that, for reasons of real life, it wasn’t…
So did it fail, or did it succeed? Was I “top” or “bottom” I won’t pretend that the awards didn’t delight me, nor that the harsh criticism didn’t hurt me. All of this is true at the same time - and I was obviously both “top” and “bottom” at the same time - and I have found this to be true with all my work. The audience is so diverse that it’s always the case that some will love it, some will hate it, and the majority won’t be interested. But what really mattered above all was that a piece of creative work I had spent many months creating reached an international audience, albeit a small one, and made a wee contribution to the huge body of creative work which enriches people’s lives.
And of course numerous painters whose works now change hands for millions of pounds/dollars etc. are now considered geniuses, and yet in their lifetime - or at the time those works were created - they were dismissed and panned by the critics and could well be considered failures by some standards.
So, for an artist, success and failure are far greater illusions than any presented by the lure of fame on the internet, for they do not really exist at all. And they should never be permitted to inhibit motivation, for that should come only from a fundamental inclination to create - and, in my opinion, from the desire to contribute and share and enrich other people’s lives and experiences, while accepting that it can only be in a very small way in most cases.
And always remember that nothing succeeds as planned… I quote Bob Dylan:
“In the dime stores and bus stations, People talk of situations, Read books, repeat quotations, Draw conclusions on the wall. Some speak of the future, My love she speaks softly, She knows there’s no success like failure And that failure’s no success at all.”
This could really stand alone as a commentary on Joey’s article 😀
Personally, when making my own work, I always bear in mind the theory of the so-called “butterfly effect”, in which a very tiny cause can have large effects - and I would add, in the case of a piece of art work, it can have effects far beyond the knowledge of the original artist. I know that I find inspiration, ideas, tuition, entertainment and many other benefits in the work of other people who could not possibly know about those effects on me, and I hope that the same applies vice versa.
So, finally, let’s move on to the question of age.
Joey suggests that “once we get very old and let go of a desire for recognition, egos, etc., we’re going to regain a state of mind like a child and purely enjoy what we do, which I think will be a saving grace for many of us” and quotes what has become a text meme found all over the internet, from the ancient Greek Sophocles, to the effect that “A man growing old becomes a child again”.
This is generally exploited to suggest positive benefits of old age, and the idea that older people are able to enjoy things with childish enthusiasm.
Frankly I think this whole idea needs thoroughly debunking, and especially in the case of artists of any kind. I don’t know the context for the original line by Sophocles (nor can I trace it - perhaps someone knows), but I do know two things: (1) other extremely similar lines throughout the history of literature are actually referring to the loss of mental faculties in elderly people with dementia, and (2) Sophocles himself lived to a ripe but very productive and creative old age, producing major works of Greek tragedy in his last years, and was still working when he died at the age of 90ish (precise date unknown). And of course his Theban plays, the product of his old age, are anything but childish or full of childish pleasures!
As I commented on the original post, I think that most ageing artists feel much more sympathy for Petrarch’s lines (admittedly taken out of their proper context)
“Now come what must: I’m not alone in growing old: only my longing does not alter with the years: truly I fear the brief life that cannot last.”
If anything, the passage of time and the realisation that there may not be a great deal of it left, intensifies the desire to make work while one still can, and reach an audience in some way, and anyone who is truly creative fears and regrets the physical and mental ills and limitations of old age, as in most cases they simply present hurdles and unwelcome limitations.
And so far as the mental effects are concerned, who would really want to return to a childish state? Certainly children, when happy, are able to enjoy things in a so-called “innocent” way for a while, but they also are subject to many fears and easy misery, and are unable to understand most of what is around them - and that includes creative work. Do we wish to return to a state in which we rejoice in finger-painting and cannot appreciate the great works of visual art, music and literature? Of course not 😀 With good reason we fear such a state, and if an older person wants to return to any stage of life, it’s almost invariably to their 20s or 30s… which, of course, are the years when in many people ambition is strongest and childishness weakest 😀
So to all my fellow ageing artists (in all media) I would say “Avanti!”. Don’t look back, but keep on moving forward - keep on creating, aspiring, striving, advancing, producing, and sharing, for the benefit, enjoyment and enrichment of us all, and don’t give up until your faculties really do fail you!
And the very best of luck to you all ❤️
