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New day. It's Friday. Studio day. Always feels like there's so much to do. I battle this idea of not being taken seriously as an artist. I don't feel that it exists quite yet. It still feels like a fight. But maybe it's because I'm embarrassed about not having all my shit together. I make and make but now I'm thinking I better start working on the non-artistic stuff, like a website and my five second blip that describes what I do when I'm asked. After working at 7 galleries I realize the biggest use of being represented by a gallery is the ability to say you have one. Otherwise, galleries don't actually build your career for you. They'll sell a fraction of your work if you're lucky. But the real career building is up to the artist. Otherwise a gallery is too distracted with their current show, the next, and maybe the one before that. They don't have time to think about you. At least this is what I've observed. It's just about the image of seeming valid enough to have a gallery. It's actually a relief to know that work doesn't really sell. It relieves me of feeling like I have to make work in the attempt to sell it. Even so-called commercial art rots in storage units. Again, I've worked at a lot of galleries and I've dug through a number of packed storage units. I give myself permission to make the kind of work I want to make. The only thing I have to worry about is how to store it myself. Don't really know that I personally want or need a gallery. I guess for the stunt of saying I have one. But I think it's a better bargain working as much as I can with galleries that don't represent artists but show them. That way I'm out and about without having all my unsold work at the mercy of one space with only one handful of collectors. I guess I can work on having one that only consigns for five months. The problem with the "art business" is that most art over a year old is undesirable. New art is what is demanded. It's such a bogus system. To be a professional artist you must do the following if you want to be taken seriously (and most will not make any money off their art FYI): You must have a bounty of new work available at all times. That is, every year you must have at least 20 brand new pieces. Can't be older. It's gotta be new and ready to go. I guess it's pretty simple. You just work a lot in your studio and make things to package up. I feel like this isn't asking that much. It just takes investing in yourself. For me, It's easy to produce a lot. But it's quality, people, not quantity. Since work doesn't really sell, especially my work, I can meet this minimum and keep the work good.
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