RE: For the fame... I have been doing some experiments in restaurants. I ask people to name 3 living actors, 3 living musicians, and three living baseball players. Rarely does anyone struggle to have answers. Then, I ask them to name 3 living painters, and 3 living photographers. So far, nobody has been able to do it. Since 2012, 38,880,000 DSLR cameras were sold. (not point and shoot, camera phones, or mirrorless cameras) Almost 40 Million serious photographers out there and nobody can name 3 of them, and the vast majority could not name even one. We are not going to get famous making art. At best, we may gain some name recognition in certain circles. Make art that moves you. Make art that challenges you. Make are that means something. If we can make art that does the same for others, they will want it for themselves. Some will even stop at your booth/website first when looking for new art because they like what you've been doing. Get your stuff out there in the real world. You can't pay the electric bill in Likes.
Another subjects to add to your list of three, are chefs and fashion designers. I think the people could name those people too. And yet no living painters or photographers . That's the way it is.
I hate how those who aren't even a part of creating art are the ones who decides what's art and not. It's like some random person comes up and tell me my child is a failure.
"They want you to believe that you need them" - that's the core of every one of my rants on this same subject. We're living in a Golden Age of Middlemen, who insert themselves into our transactions - and basically everything we do - skimming money off the top for themselves, and delivering less service for that money every time. The art market are the middlemen of the art world, and you have to ask yourself, are they offering anything that makes any sense for me, my work, my career, and the kind of life I want to live? If yes, then by all means, go chase them. Play their games. Get in amongst them. But for me, I really have no use for them, nor they for me. And when we feel kind of dazzled by the glow of the masters being bought and sold in the market, and maybe we think it would be cool to be considered that important as an artist, I figure it this way - Picasso didn't get treated like that when he was alive, he never cared what these kinds of people thought of him when he was alive, and now that he's dead, he doesn't care how much his paintings go for. If I want to be like Picasso (which I don't, but you know what I mean), I need to keep that in mind and just keep working at what I do.
I agree with you 💯… I worked (aka volunteered) for a short time at a community art gallery and saw the good and the bad and the ugly. I met some genuinely caring people who helped me grow as an artist. But there were also people who were definitely art snobs and didn't want anything to do with you if you didn't use a certain medium for example or didn't have any juried art in your collection. I learned that you just need to do you! How? Because I read your book, duh!
I had a somewhat similar situation a few years ago. I once volunteered in a tiny art gallery within a place that sold different stuff, mostly food. I wasn't trying to get into the art scene through galleries, let alone the fine art world as a whole. I was trying to do some voulnteer work when I was looking for a job. There wasn't much that interested me that didn't involved things like working in soup kitchens or doing something else that seemed interesting but was in a not so safe area. I live in a city, if that wasn't an indicator. I won't say where. When I went to volunteer, I heard from an intern from the gallery that an artist they represented was trying to put themselves out there, but that the people from our city that were interested in buying art only cared for abstract art. He was apparently struggling to have people buy his work even though a gallery offered to put it out there. I don't remember exactly how I said it, but I think I said something along the lines of a gallery wasn't the only way to make a living with art. When she asked if that was so, then how else, I said I wasn't sure. It was because despite hearing from others that questioned the art industry online (it was a time before I learned about Rafi), I was in no position to give advice since I wasn't in a place that proved otherwise. It was pretty ironic that I was volunteering in an at gallery when I wasn't all that interested being involved, but I was feeling kind of desperate when it came to money and kind of gave up my dream to do art for a living at some point.
I didnt hire a curator, I told my best art friend she had been appointed. 😂 She encouraged me to just to jump in and post my work on fb recently. I sold 3 pieces in 48 hrs. even though showing, not selling, was the purpose. They requested to buy so i had to act fast. It was fun. My curator gets a text of my quarantine art everytime I finish a piece so I can get her thoughts. I've got a huge pile of monotypes now after 9 months of solo isolation! It's freeing in a way that's difficult to explain to put your work out to the world. Even if you just do it on crappy fb. Xoxo
I have a great respect for Van Gogh because he only sold one painting in his life time. But he kept on painting. His sister in law is the one responsible for his work getting the notice it deserved. I read that someone he had given work to had used it to fix a hole in a window of a chicken coop and his mother threw his works away. I look at his life and think, I can keep going too. Keep creating and putting work out there for others to see.
Hello! I am so glad I discovered your channel. I am a beginning artist and have been somewhat timid about it. Thanks for your encouragement, we need artists like you:)
I've seen and heard so much about what makes art, art. I think it's the artist that decides, whether it lasts a lifetime or just a few hours. Is my work archival, only time will tell. Do I care, no. What's important, is how I feel when it's done. Will it bring joy to someone, I hope so. A person making a sand sculpture knows it won't last, but that doesn't stop them from creating it and people will get to enjoy it till it washes away.
I love your rants whether mini or major. They give me mental energy to get into the work space and do SOMETHING. I vote you and Klee as the most likely to be awesome if met in person. :-)
Was that a rant?????? Cuz I thought that was BEAUTIFUL Rafi. You know just how to say it, and you have a great perspective! BEAUTIFUL! Thanks Rafi for a truly BEAUTIFUL rant(?)! 😆😃👍❤
I feel like being an artist is about creativity more than acceptance. Just because someone else has a mistaken notion of what it means to be an artist doesn't mean I can't create beautiful things. If they talk about fame or recognition, I remind them neither of those has anything to do with satisfying the creative drive, and if they talk about money (how much you make, painting prices, etc...) I remind them that I'm not primarily a business, but I deserve an honest price for an honest effort and the time I've taken to develop my skill.
Great video, it does make my blood boil at times with this subject!! Also as an abstract expressionist artist I get annoyed how it's percieved as a child could do better type comment!! Now I ignore those comments and just ignore the lazyness of those comments!! Art is art to the artist in my opinion!! Sorry for my little rant, loved your rant Rafi!!
Yeah, I'm not gung-ho about my art one day becoming another vehicle for rich families to evade taxes, I just want to reach my full potential, to have a modest, unfamous life of doing my work without having to earn fortunes for somebody else.
It's like asking "What is real clothing?" and giving the answer "Real clothing is what is shown in fashion parades". Um, no. What is shown in fashion parades is as far from *real* clothing as the Earth is from Mars... it's another planet. Its own little insular planet with its own language and its own ecosystem. And like the so-called "Art Market", it is mostly about fame, and gatekeepers who say who is in and who is out. If you need fame to validate you, that is really sad.
Rafiiii! The more I watch your videos, the more respect I have for you. You are such an amazing person and you're blessed with such a lovely wife and audience on this channel. We love you for what you create and who you are. I am an Artist from India too. Well, more like an engineering student but got this confidence to call myself an Artist from people like you. Everything you said in this video made so much sense and OMG, I have been thinking around this topic for a while now too. You just put everything I have been thinking into the right words. Your videos really make my day better. Thank you for this.
8:57 or 10:10 Cue Motivational Speech. I'm going to bookmark this for later. It really helps to hear you speak out in opposition of that negative, self destructive voice. It is hard to keep reminding myself that the only difference between myself and people selling their art is essentially exposure.
Just the other day I watched a video which explored the controversy around Thomas Kinkade, who was hated by many people. I learned about the term "Kitsch art" which was described as "Kitsch is fake art, expressing fake emotions, whose purpose is to deceive the consumer into thinking he feels something deep and serious." There's no such thing as "fake art" or a fake emotional reaction to art! If you call it art, it's art. If you make art, you're an artist. It's that simple. The only fake artists are plagiarists who steal other people's art.
You are so right. There doesn't need to be just one "true artist." Art encompasses so many genres, and saying you have to be seen in an art gallery in order to be an artist is snobbish. I think it's great if you get accepted into one, but you can still have a great career without it. I don't want to be the person who's art isn't seen because I'm waiting for someone important to find it after I'm dead.
Some of the most amazing artists are sadly forgotten, especially women. I've had a few history courses where it doesn't even seem like female artists even existed (which is obviously ridiculous) until the 1900s and even then they were often rejected. So I don't really care much for whoever determines fame and notoriety historically speaking. Why should I strive to fit into a system that doesn't want me anyway? Luckily with the internet and local events we can forge our own opportunities even if some important person doesn't think we deserve it. I enjoy doing art for myself and others, as long as I can do that, I'm good.
From the first time I learned what an Artist is, I knew I am one. In the same way that I know I am a woman, it's a large, defining, integral part of who I am and how I live my life. I create because I can't not create. It's like breathing or eating. Food for my soul maybe. I think Artists learn to see things differently than non-Artists and that can make us dangerous or uncomfortable for some. We translate what we experience and see to communicate(or at least try to) with others. When you speak the language , those who understand it as the voice of your heart will hear what you say as a reflection in them. I believe I am an Artist and that what I create is Art. They can think what they will. I know my own truth.
I’ve been an artist my whole life, drawing, painting since I could hold a pencil and a tattoo artist for 18 years but covid has brought me back to my brushes and easel. After years of tattooing and essentially creating client driven commissions on skin it’s been a good feeling to simply create what I want to with zero rules. I just keep doing it, when I finish a painting it could fall straight into a fireplace and I wouldn’t really care, I’m too busy enjoying the process and I deliberately avoid any patting myself on the back, apart from taking some pride in my diligence to continue. It’s weird, I’ve come to disregard comments on my work, good or bad simply because it’s too obvious to me that everyone will see it differently somehow. Being annoyed at someone for disliking my art is like being annoyed at someone for disliking a particular food or colour etc- it’s none of my business. It’s kinda like I’m a chef, making food that I don’t really care if anybody eats haha crazy. Sorry to rant haha great outlook as always rafi 👌 keep up the great work guys, all the best
Love this! I was born to create, it comes in many forms & the greatest value is that it all purely comes from my heart & soul! My creativity is the way I Love 🥰
You are compelled to make your art. You do not learn how to paint. You paint to learn how. Art is the only step in the ladder of life that won’t creak!
Artists are very spiritual. I remember a quote from someone can't remember who."If the hand doesn't touch the spirit, there is no art. And Robert Henri said "In every human being there is the artist, and whatever his activity, he has an equal chance with any to express the result of his growth and his contact with life. I don't believe any real artist cares whether what he does is art or not. Who, after all, knows what art is? "
Wonderful rant Rafi. Absolutely spot on! Doesn't this come down to how people need approval from whatever source of authority that they have identified as important to them. Be it in your work, sport, how you look after your garden or bake a cake. Part of the necessary emotional development for creative people is to eventually realised that their own opinion is all that really matters. Fame is a different thing to creativity just as it is for other realms like sports or baking. Creatives create. Is it art? Who cares. Art is just another label. Am I an artist? Sure, why not. Am I creative, absolutely. Love your work! x
What you are speaking of, in this video ( the art market) should be taught in high school and college art. If I were still teaching high school art I would use this video as a teaching tool. You explain things so well! Thank you, so much, for sharing your passion for life and art!
I recently discovered your channel and have been binging on your videos ever since. Really entertaining and informative! I wanted to leave a note here to chime in and say that I have a particular ire and vitriol for gatekeepers.
As we are all part of communities, we rely on eachother to build the future...Art is no different. bc ART is so personal there's no doubt we (WHO MAKE ART) want to know if its received with a scintilla of the original impetus you had to create it. With Social media being a curator of what people see, we get a disfigured perception of reality. I.E. when FB chooses who gets to see what you post or withholds that post you will never know how it would have performed organically. That leaves the winning to those who can buy the most ads. IMO, Art should stay off Social Media, but without that what do you have these days, your personal website?
1. At first I was glad I didn't want to watch your video because I know I'm an artist because I put my paint where my talk is gosh darn it. (grateful to have beaten this psychological hurdle, and glad that you talk through it for others who need to hear it!). If you make stuff, you are a maker. If you say you do x, and DON'T, then..... 2. Thank you for the great summery of provenances, it's such a weird thing! The high and mighty art market is so far removed from where artists actually make their living! It feels like a Hollywood parade-- we recognize a few high paid actors, but there's thousands behind the scenes actually making it happen.
I love your art. It's hanging in my living room right now. I am an abstract artist and listen to people all the time who don't get my art. That's okay because I'm only looking for the ones who do.
IMO if you’re doing ANYTHING creative, you’re an artist PERIOD! As for what is / isn’t real art, originals and genuine prints sold by the original artist are real art whereas forgeries aren’t real art
You nailed it Rafi. If the public isn't aware, approximately 50% of the art auctioned off at Christies, Sotheby's, etc. are forgeries. They think they're experts, but in reality they're just trying to make a buck.
Thank you so much for reminding me Rafi. I already saw this video but I needed to see it again. I should know this too by now but somehow I still get knocked out of my center sometimes. 💖🙏💖😊
It’s learning who my audience is and finding them but now I’ve begun to sell here and there it’s starting to feel real. I agree, the art market puts me off. Being a self employed artist selling finding those who connect with it, is far more exciting .
I am very flattered when people want to give me hard earned cash for my art or pottery. I’ve touched a lot of lives with my custom jewelry. Your work is really good even if you don’t care.
Sort of related, making “art” for a niche. I feel like this can feel more like design than anything else. Art as a craft that serves a niche, sure, but if you’re creating for a niche to just serve that audience then that is, I feel, also disempowering. Creating to serve an audience is a slippery slope to losing yourself and hating what you make. This is where is see the biggest difference in artists who market and art marketers who are detached from the art.
Insightful comments around the disempowering mechanisms within the creative arts field..thanks again Rafi...you have given me some more tools to help me ponder and balance some gnarly stuff I have been struggling with, cheers mate
I really appreciate this channel and all of the realistic and genuine advice and perspective. I bought your book from amazon and it should be arriving today or tomorrow. I'm looking fwd to reading it
I'm not sure I would even feel comfortable in that part of the art world. I mean, I guess it might be neat to have my art collected in that manner, but that is not what I am out for. I just want someone to love my work and give it a good home.
Beeing an artist is a lives privilege. Before we all had to be farmers, only the rich could afford to be comfortable to be fulltime artists. After the industrial revolution we all got the comfort of more free time. Losing that privilege to make money from art must be a pain.
Did you just compare your work with Matisse? lol Love it! (I know you weren't doing that, but it's funny nonetheless.) Good vid! PS. I think a lot of people (artists) might feel that being recognized by the art world professionals validates their work, as though they have "graduated" to being a "real" artist.
Hey man I just discovered your channel a week ago and really enjoy it. I've been listening while I create my own art :) I wonder if the "real artist" argument is something that predominantly affects people who grew up with art and went to art school? As someone who mostly learns art on my own (with RUclips and occasionally some zoom classes) and publishes stuff online, it never even remotely occurred to me that some gallery owner would determine if my art is "real". Of course, I have many other insecurities and worries. But caring what the "art establishment" thinks isn't something that ever mattered to me.
The problem I run up against in the South, is the idea that "Art isn't a 'REAL' job", etc.. Artists get accused of being "bums who won't work", etc... Their perception is that only a 9 to 5 job where a person punches a time clock every day for an hourly wage is actual 'work'.
I would say why worry about it at all. As warhol said i create things; the market determines if its art. No truer words. It’s better to focus on sales and getting out works you love
Like music, there are many ways to make money, the thing is you have to want to do it, enough to sing or play something. You can do that on the street with your case out for tips, play in a cafe, or a bar, or a restaurant, or a festival, or a sporting event, or an orchestra, or a recording, or behind a movie, or on stage in front of millions, or.. the amount of time you spend, how well you are able to get an audience has to do with many things. Ambitious ways, with skill and tons of hours into whatever you are doing, consistent and determined effort usually pays off, if you have a vision. If you don't want to become a successful artist, musician or entrepreneur then it will never happen. Usually, if you want to create art and pursuing a living with it, you have to have a huge desire, and need to create. Otherwise, only luck will get you into big curated places. Massive effort is usually needed to becoming successful in whatever you call success for yourself. As always, a good rant Raffi.
For me a person who creates art is an artist. So I call myself an artist. I've already had discussions about not being allowed to call myself an artist, in an agressive and hurtful way. But I do not care and this person is no longer part of my life. Sounds hard, but this person had too much negative energy.
Soooo... then there's the "artist" 🎨 who pooped 💩 in various sized glass jars, left them to harden for years and years 😝 (he was obviously a patient man) and succeeded in getting the attention of ALL the necessary people 🥳 to make headlines, have gallery shows, and be featured in major art magazines. HE SHOWED HIS CRAP... literally... and was applauded 👏 by the art world. Sooo... 🤣 I don't even know what to say anymore 🤐 As an artist, don't follow trends because they could end up stinky. JUST BE YOURSELF and DO YOUR OWN THING!! 😁
I don't think everyone can call themselves an artist, that's why artists are deeply undervalued and hurts the fields ability to charge more because so many people thought a drawing that they did was art and sell it for cheap. It's a very complicated thing but there are people that make art as a hobbie and then there are professional artists just like any profession in the world. An artist's is the communicator between the ideas gathered from the individual and their environments around with a purpose to change it for better. Art has a purpose and it's the most difficult one to explain but truly not everyone has the right to call themselves an artist but you can call yourself a talented being. In my opinion..
So who decides who is an artist and who is not, if any? I get what you're saying but it raises interesting questions. What criteria would you use to separate the "good" from the "bad"?
@@regis_red I don't think there is a thing as good or bad art because of perspective, I think I am more directed at how you get to be considered a true artist. I think it is someone who dedicates a lot of time to the craft that once they themselves validate it AS WELL as the people around like any other profession can be called an artist. But that's just my opinion.
@@Rafiwashere Your right, it is a word that is kind of generalized so it's kind of difficult. So you consider yourself a professional painter or an artist? Or both? I'm just curious because I'm myself can't put a name to it since I am an industrial designer and bring that into my art so I call myself an industrial artist
I bet hoity toity folk don't regard the NSFW crowd as art (even though some of it is technically classic art). I'd love to see their reaction to learning modern risque artists make thousands, sometimes 5 figures a month on patreon.
It can mean nudes, bikini pics, violence, really anything that people want to censor. It doesn't always have to be nudes, but yes, in this context, it's sexual in some way. Niche NSFW artists are very successful both with money and having fans.
When I've encountered people like that, usually they have a belief you can't make it doing whatever subject they seem to dislike. They usually have no knowledge about the topic because it's outside their expertise.
the art market isn't about art, it's about money any artist who determines the value of anyone's art on this metric is insecure about their own artistic worth. art is the process, the product after that is of little importance
Well there's a big difference between decorative art, commercial art, lowbrow art and fine art. Yes the fine art world is full of crap and its all about connections but if you paint in the style of 1 of the first 3 the chances of you making it to the fine art world are 100k to 1, so it's easy not to care when you won't ever be allowed in anyways. Just speaking truths.
There is some truth to this, but as much as people want to set boundaries and labels to art, it's all just a perception. Decorative, commercial, and lowbrow are just forms of fine art once they are determined to be. A Monet can be determined decorative, a Toulouse-Lautrec can be considered commercial, Dali can be considered lowbrow, yet all of these are fine art. So, yes you are speaking your truth, but not an ultimate truth.
@@Rafiwashere True, but the thing about these artists that you mention along with so many others is that these artists who are now considered fine art were some of the first to do their style in their time. Someone to do Monet style now would not even be looked at by a fine art gallery. You have to be first to do it, place it in the right places and get very lucky.
very true look at graffiti they did art and for years no one considerd it art but there people as u say lol now the art world reconizes supports sell graffitti art ast fine art galleries n acutions like screw m they just like what there told or the trends is at the time hey turn there nose up one min at a art or artist then tell ya to buy it the next cuz its cuttin edge or whatever !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! art is art simple as that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RE: For the fame... I have been doing some experiments in restaurants. I ask people to name 3 living actors, 3 living musicians, and three living baseball players. Rarely does anyone struggle to have answers. Then, I ask them to name 3 living painters, and 3 living photographers. So far, nobody has been able to do it. Since 2012, 38,880,000 DSLR cameras were sold. (not point and shoot, camera phones, or mirrorless cameras) Almost 40 Million serious photographers out there and nobody can name 3 of them, and the vast majority could not name even one.
We are not going to get famous making art. At best, we may gain some name recognition in certain circles. Make art that moves you. Make art that challenges you. Make are that means something. If we can make art that does the same for others, they will want it for themselves. Some will even stop at your booth/website first when looking for new art because they like what you've been doing. Get your stuff out there in the real world. You can't pay the electric bill in Likes.
Another subjects to add to your list of three, are chefs and fashion designers. I think the people could name those people too. And yet no living painters or photographers . That's the way it is.
Good point dude
I hate how those who aren't even a part of creating art are the ones who decides what's art and not. It's like some random person comes up and tell me my child is a failure.
F the establishment! An artist is someone who creates something creatively and aspires to create!
Just put your stuff out there and don't give a rip what anyone thinks. Sounds great!
"They want you to believe that you need them" - that's the core of every one of my rants on this same subject. We're living in a Golden Age of Middlemen, who insert themselves into our transactions - and basically everything we do - skimming money off the top for themselves, and delivering less service for that money every time. The art market are the middlemen of the art world, and you have to ask yourself, are they offering anything that makes any sense for me, my work, my career, and the kind of life I want to live? If yes, then by all means, go chase them. Play their games. Get in amongst them. But for me, I really have no use for them, nor they for me. And when we feel kind of dazzled by the glow of the masters being bought and sold in the market, and maybe we think it would be cool to be considered that important as an artist, I figure it this way - Picasso didn't get treated like that when he was alive, he never cared what these kinds of people thought of him when he was alive, and now that he's dead, he doesn't care how much his paintings go for. If I want to be like Picasso (which I don't, but you know what I mean), I need to keep that in mind and just keep working at what I do.
I agree with you 💯… I worked (aka volunteered) for a short time at a community art gallery and saw the good and the bad and the ugly. I met some genuinely caring people who helped me grow as an artist. But there were also people who were definitely art snobs and didn't want anything to do with you if you didn't use a certain medium for example or didn't have any juried art in your collection. I learned that you just need to do you! How? Because I read your book, duh!
I had a somewhat similar situation a few years ago. I once volunteered in a tiny art gallery within a place that sold different stuff, mostly food. I wasn't trying to get into the art scene through galleries, let alone the fine art world as a whole. I was trying to do some voulnteer work when I was looking for a job. There wasn't much that interested me that didn't involved things like working in soup kitchens or doing something else that seemed interesting but was in a not so safe area. I live in a city, if that wasn't an indicator. I won't say where. When I went to volunteer, I heard from an intern from the gallery that an artist they represented was trying to put themselves out there, but that the people from our city that were interested in buying art only cared for abstract art. He was apparently struggling to have people buy his work even though a gallery offered to put it out there. I don't remember exactly how I said it, but I think I said something along the lines of a gallery wasn't the only way to make a living with art. When she asked if that was so, then how else, I said I wasn't sure. It was because despite hearing from others that questioned the art industry online (it was a time before I learned about Rafi), I was in no position to give advice since I wasn't in a place that proved otherwise. It was pretty ironic that I was volunteering in an at gallery when I wasn't all that interested being involved, but I was feeling kind of desperate when it came to money and kind of gave up my dream to do art for a living at some point.
I didnt hire a curator, I told my best art friend she had been appointed. 😂 She encouraged me to just to jump in and post my work on fb recently. I sold 3 pieces in 48 hrs. even though showing, not selling, was the purpose. They requested to buy so i had to act fast. It was fun. My curator gets a text of my quarantine art everytime I finish a piece so I can get her thoughts. I've got a huge pile of monotypes now after 9 months of solo isolation! It's freeing in a way that's difficult to explain to put your work out to the world. Even if you just do it on crappy fb. Xoxo
I have a great respect for Van Gogh because he only sold one painting in his life time. But he kept on painting. His sister in law is the one responsible for his work getting the notice it deserved. I read that someone he had given work to had used it to fix a hole in a window of a chicken coop and his mother threw his works away. I look at his life and think, I can keep going too. Keep creating and putting work out there for others to see.
Hello! I am so glad I discovered your channel. I am a beginning artist and have been somewhat timid about it. Thanks for your encouragement, we need artists like you:)
I've seen and heard so much about what makes art, art. I think it's the artist that decides, whether it lasts a lifetime or just a few hours. Is my work archival, only time will tell. Do I care, no. What's important, is how I feel when it's done. Will it bring joy to someone, I hope so. A person making a sand sculpture knows it won't last, but that doesn't stop them from creating it and people will get to enjoy it till it washes away.
I love your rants whether mini or major. They give me mental energy to get into the work space and do SOMETHING. I vote you and Klee as the most likely to be awesome if met in person. :-)
Whatever your hands find to do do it with all your might. working as unto the Lord and not to please men.
Was that a rant??????
Cuz I thought that was BEAUTIFUL Rafi.
You know just how to say it, and you have a great perspective!
BEAUTIFUL!
Thanks Rafi for a truly BEAUTIFUL rant(?)! 😆😃👍❤
I feel like being an artist is about creativity more than acceptance. Just because someone else has a mistaken notion of what it means to be an artist doesn't mean I can't create beautiful things. If they talk about fame or recognition, I remind them neither of those has anything to do with satisfying the creative drive, and if they talk about money (how much you make, painting prices, etc...) I remind them that I'm not primarily a business, but I deserve an honest price for an honest effort and the time I've taken to develop my skill.
Great video, it does make my blood boil at times with this subject!! Also as an abstract expressionist artist I get annoyed how it's percieved as a child could do better type comment!! Now I ignore those comments and just ignore the lazyness of those comments!! Art is art to the artist in my opinion!! Sorry for my little rant, loved your rant Rafi!!
Yeah, I'm not gung-ho about my art one day becoming another vehicle for rich families to evade taxes, I just want to reach my full potential, to have a modest, unfamous life of doing my work without having to earn fortunes for somebody else.
It's like asking "What is real clothing?" and giving the answer "Real clothing is what is shown in fashion parades". Um, no. What is shown in fashion parades is as far from *real* clothing as the Earth is from Mars... it's another planet. Its own little insular planet with its own language and its own ecosystem. And like the so-called "Art Market", it is mostly about fame, and gatekeepers who say who is in and who is out. If you need fame to validate you, that is really sad.
Rafiiii! The more I watch your videos, the more respect I have for you. You are such an amazing person and you're blessed with such a lovely wife and audience on this channel. We love you for what you create and who you are. I am an Artist from India too. Well, more like an engineering student but got this confidence to call myself an Artist from people like you. Everything you said in this video made so much sense and OMG, I have been thinking around this topic for a while now too. You just put everything I have been thinking into the right words. Your videos really make my day better. Thank you for this.
8:57 or 10:10 Cue Motivational Speech. I'm going to bookmark this for later. It really helps to hear you speak out in opposition of that negative, self destructive voice. It is hard to keep reminding myself that the only difference between myself and people selling their art is essentially exposure.
Just the other day I watched a video which explored the controversy around Thomas Kinkade, who was hated by many people. I learned about the term "Kitsch art" which was described as "Kitsch is fake art, expressing fake emotions, whose purpose is to deceive the consumer into thinking he feels something deep and serious." There's no such thing as "fake art" or a fake emotional reaction to art! If you call it art, it's art. If you make art, you're an artist. It's that simple. The only fake artists are plagiarists who steal other people's art.
On my birthday...🤭. Thank you for this present Rafi! I love your rant, so empowering.
Happy Birthday :) as another present I have just subscribed to you!!xx
I call it the positive rant or inspiring rant, not the usual negative rant.
Happy birthday!!💜
Happy Birthday!
@@sjmsutherland thank you so much🙏. I would love to hear your thoughts on any video you watch😊 in the future.
You are so right. There doesn't need to be just one "true artist." Art encompasses so many genres, and saying you have to be seen in an art gallery in order to be an artist is snobbish. I think it's great if you get accepted into one, but you can still have a great career without it. I don't want to be the person who's art isn't seen because I'm waiting for someone important to find it after I'm dead.
Some of the most amazing artists are sadly forgotten, especially women. I've had a few history courses where it doesn't even seem like female artists even existed (which is obviously ridiculous) until the 1900s and even then they were often rejected. So I don't really care much for whoever determines fame and notoriety historically speaking. Why should I strive to fit into a system that doesn't want me anyway? Luckily with the internet and local events we can forge our own opportunities even if some important person doesn't think we deserve it. I enjoy doing art for myself and others, as long as I can do that, I'm good.
From the first time I learned what an Artist is, I knew I am one. In the same way that I know I am a woman, it's a large, defining, integral part of who I am and how I live my life. I create because I can't not create. It's like breathing or eating. Food for my soul maybe. I think Artists learn to see things differently than non-Artists and that can make us dangerous or uncomfortable for some. We translate what we experience and see to communicate(or at least try to) with others. When you speak the language , those who understand it as the voice of your heart will hear what you say as a reflection in them. I believe I am an Artist and that what I create is Art. They can think what they will. I know my own truth.
Thanks for keeping it real rafi..true facts..love it bro..God Bless...Keep Creating and inspiring others to create!
This rant speaks volume to me. Thank you!
I’ve been an artist my whole life, drawing, painting since I could hold a pencil and a tattoo artist for 18 years but covid has brought me back to my brushes and easel. After years of tattooing and essentially creating client driven commissions on skin it’s been a good feeling to simply create what I want to with zero rules. I just keep doing it, when I finish a painting it could fall straight into a fireplace and I wouldn’t really care, I’m too busy enjoying the process and I deliberately avoid any patting myself on the back, apart from taking some pride in my diligence to continue.
It’s weird, I’ve come to disregard comments on my work, good or bad simply because it’s too obvious to me that everyone will see it differently somehow. Being annoyed at someone for disliking my art is like being annoyed at someone for disliking a particular food or colour etc- it’s none of my business.
It’s kinda like I’m a chef, making food that I don’t really care if anybody eats haha crazy.
Sorry to rant haha great outlook as always rafi 👌 keep up the great work guys, all the best
Love this! I was born to create, it comes in many forms & the greatest value is that it all purely comes from my heart & soul! My creativity is the way I Love 🥰
Thank you rafi for honest sincerity and positive support for us artist
You are compelled to make your art. You do not learn how to paint. You paint to learn how. Art is the only step in the ladder of life that won’t creak!
Hi. I never wanted to depend on anyone to say anything about my art work. This is why I depend on myself to do what I can to get the attention.
Artists are very spiritual. I remember a quote from someone can't remember who."If the hand doesn't touch the spirit, there is no art. And Robert Henri said "In every human being there is the artist, and whatever his activity, he has an equal chance with any to express the result of his growth and his contact with life. I don't believe any real artist cares whether what he does is art or not. Who, after all, knows what art is? "
Wonderful rant Rafi. Absolutely spot on! Doesn't this come down to how people need approval from whatever source of authority that they have identified as important to them. Be it in your work, sport, how you look after your garden or bake a cake. Part of the necessary emotional development for creative people is to eventually realised that their own opinion is all that really matters. Fame is a different thing to creativity just as it is for other realms like sports or baking. Creatives create. Is it art? Who cares. Art is just another label. Am I an artist? Sure, why not. Am I creative, absolutely. Love your work! x
Spot on Rafi!....anything that has Love at its core is sovereign and is empowered!...... the rest is really something else entirely! 👍😁
What you are speaking of, in this video ( the art market) should be taught in high school and college art. If I were still teaching high school art I would use this video as a teaching tool. You explain things so well! Thank you, so much, for sharing your passion for life and art!
I recently discovered your channel and have been binging on your videos ever since. Really entertaining and informative! I wanted to leave a note here to chime in and say that I have a particular ire and vitriol for gatekeepers.
As we are all part of communities, we rely on eachother to build the future...Art is no different. bc ART is so personal there's no doubt we (WHO MAKE ART) want to know if its received with a scintilla of the original impetus you had to create it. With Social media being a curator of what people see, we get a disfigured perception of reality. I.E. when FB chooses who gets to see what you post or withholds that post you will never know how it would have performed organically. That leaves the winning to those who can buy the most ads. IMO, Art should stay off Social Media, but without that what do you have these days, your personal website?
Yeah, check out @epittmanart
1. At first I was glad I didn't want to watch your video because I know I'm an artist because I put my paint where my talk is gosh darn it. (grateful to have beaten this psychological hurdle, and glad that you talk through it for others who need to hear it!). If you make stuff, you are a maker. If you say you do x, and DON'T, then..... 2. Thank you for the great summery of provenances, it's such a weird thing! The high and mighty art market is so far removed from where artists actually make their living! It feels like a Hollywood parade-- we recognize a few high paid actors, but there's thousands behind the scenes actually making it happen.
I love your art. It's hanging in my living room right now. I am an abstract artist and listen to people all the time who don't get my art. That's okay because I'm only looking for the ones who do.
IMO if you’re doing ANYTHING creative, you’re an artist PERIOD! As for what is / isn’t real art, originals and genuine prints sold by the original artist are real art whereas forgeries aren’t real art
50% what you want to make, 50% what the public wants... If you can merge both, you'll be successful.
If you like something, there stands to reason someone else will like it too. It's just a matter of finding those people. :)
You nailed it Rafi. If the public isn't aware, approximately 50% of the art auctioned off at Christies, Sotheby's, etc. are forgeries. They think they're experts, but in reality they're just trying to make a buck.
Your advice is always so grounding and down to earth. I appreciate what you do to help other artists!
Thank you so much for reminding me Rafi. I already saw this video but I needed to see it again. I should know this too by now but somehow I still get knocked out of my center sometimes. 💖🙏💖😊
It’s learning who my audience is and finding them but now I’ve begun to sell here and there it’s starting to feel real. I agree, the art market puts me off. Being a self employed artist selling finding those who connect with it, is far more exciting .
I am very flattered when people want to give me hard earned cash for my art or pottery. I’ve touched a lot of lives with my custom jewelry. Your work is really good even if you don’t care.
Always great rants. 😊❤
Sort of related, making “art” for a niche. I feel like this can feel more like design than anything else. Art as a craft that serves a niche, sure, but if you’re creating for a niche to just serve that audience then that is, I feel, also disempowering. Creating to serve an audience is a slippery slope to losing yourself and hating what you make. This is where is see the biggest difference in artists who market and art marketers who are detached from the art.
Insightful comments around the disempowering mechanisms within the creative arts field..thanks again Rafi...you have given me some more tools to help me ponder and balance some gnarly stuff I have been struggling with, cheers mate
Wise Words my friend!!!
Thank you Rafi ...I wanted to hear more on the mini rant .Love your videos!!!
I really appreciate this channel and all of the realistic and genuine advice and perspective. I bought your book from amazon and it should be arriving today or tomorrow. I'm looking fwd to reading it
YES Enjoy Doing your Art!!! and creating it!
Well spoken. I totally agree with you!
I'm not sure I would even feel comfortable in that part of the art world. I mean, I guess it might be neat to have my art collected in that manner, but that is not what I am out for. I just want someone to love my work and give it a good home.
Art Matters.......forget about Art Market. You are in a long History of Real Artists.
Beeing an artist is a lives privilege. Before we all had to be farmers, only the rich could afford to be comfortable to be fulltime artists. After the industrial revolution we all got the comfort of more free time. Losing that privilege to make money from art must be a pain.
ON POINT, MAN.
In other words..."My Art is Art because I Am an Artist & I Matter!!!" 😁
Agree 100%!!
Did you just compare your work with Matisse? lol Love it! (I know you weren't doing that, but it's funny nonetheless.) Good vid!
PS. I think a lot of people (artists) might feel that being recognized by the art world professionals validates their work, as though they have "graduated" to being a "real" artist.
Hey man I just discovered your channel a week ago and really enjoy it. I've been listening while I create my own art :)
I wonder if the "real artist" argument is something that predominantly affects people who grew up with art and went to art school? As someone who mostly learns art on my own (with RUclips and occasionally some zoom classes) and publishes stuff online, it never even remotely occurred to me that some gallery owner would determine if my art is "real". Of course, I have many other insecurities and worries. But caring what the "art establishment" thinks isn't something that ever mattered to me.
Rock On Rafi, I love it
The problem I run up against in the South, is the idea that "Art isn't a 'REAL' job", etc.. Artists get accused of being "bums who won't work", etc... Their perception is that only a 9 to 5 job where a person punches a time clock every day for an hourly wage is actual 'work'.
This is an exceptional video. Very good info.
I think anything someone has to point out "isn't art" is art by definition.
Thank you for being real.
Well said, Rafi.
The real art is the art.of staying humble and been creative. I paint and hardly ever sell any. People i know normally buy my pieces
Chatham quote at the Chatham Exhibit. Bozeman Art Museum. Montana.
Love your rants.
I would say why worry about it at all. As warhol said i create things; the market determines if its art. No truer words. It’s better to focus on sales and getting out works you love
👍👍
James 🎅
Like music, there are many ways to make money, the thing is you have to want to do it, enough to sing or play something. You can do that on the street with your case out for tips, play in a cafe, or a bar, or a restaurant, or a festival, or a sporting event, or an orchestra, or a recording, or behind a movie, or on stage in front of millions, or.. the amount of time you spend, how well you are able to get an audience has to do with many things. Ambitious ways, with skill and tons of hours into whatever you are doing, consistent and determined effort usually pays off, if you have a vision. If you don't want to become a successful artist, musician or entrepreneur then it will never happen. Usually, if you want to create art and pursuing a living with it, you have to have a huge desire, and need to create. Otherwise, only luck will get you into big curated places. Massive effort is usually needed to becoming successful in whatever you call success for yourself. As always, a good rant Raffi.
For me a person who creates art is an artist. So I call myself an artist.
I've already had discussions about not being allowed to call myself an artist, in an agressive and hurtful way. But I do not care and this person is no longer part of my life. Sounds hard, but this person had too much negative energy.
Soooo... then there's the "artist" 🎨 who pooped 💩 in various sized glass jars, left them to harden for years and years 😝 (he was obviously a patient man) and succeeded in getting the attention of ALL the necessary people 🥳 to make headlines, have gallery shows, and be featured in major art magazines. HE SHOWED HIS CRAP... literally... and was applauded 👏 by the art world. Sooo... 🤣 I don't even know what to say anymore 🤐 As an artist, don't follow trends because they could end up stinky. JUST BE YOURSELF and DO YOUR OWN THING!! 😁
🔥🔥🔥
love u rafi
It's art if a self aware human with feelings was able to pour passion into the work.
I don't think everyone can call themselves an artist, that's why artists are deeply undervalued and hurts the fields ability to charge more because so many people thought a drawing that they did was art and sell it for cheap. It's a very complicated thing but there are people that make art as a hobbie and then there are professional artists just like any profession in the world. An artist's is the communicator between the ideas gathered from the individual and their environments around with a purpose to change it for better. Art has a purpose and it's the most difficult one to explain but truly not everyone has the right to call themselves an artist but you can call yourself a talented being. In my opinion..
So who decides who is an artist and who is not, if any? I get what you're saying but it raises interesting questions. What criteria would you use to separate the "good" from the "bad"?
@@regis_red I don't think there is a thing as good or bad art because of perspective, I think I am more directed at how you get to be considered a true artist. I think it is someone who dedicates a lot of time to the craft that once they themselves validate it AS WELL as the people around like any other profession can be called an artist. But that's just my opinion.
@@Rafiwashere Your right, it is a word that is kind of generalized so it's kind of difficult. So you consider yourself a professional painter or an artist? Or both? I'm just curious because I'm myself can't put a name to it since I am an industrial designer and bring that into my art so I call myself an industrial artist
@@Rafiwashere 🌟thanks for the reply I really love your perspective
I do, of course
I bet hoity toity folk don't regard the NSFW crowd as art (even though some of it is technically classic art).
I'd love to see their reaction to learning modern risque artists make thousands, sometimes 5 figures a month on patreon.
Illusionary Explorer please forgive my ignorance but what is NSFW?
@@beth1979 Not Safe For Work--'naked people'
It can mean nudes, bikini pics, violence, really anything that people want to censor. It doesn't always have to be nudes, but yes, in this context, it's sexual in some way. Niche NSFW artists are very successful both with money and having fans.
@@toomuchiwannado1777 True.
When I've encountered people like that, usually they have a belief you can't make it doing whatever subject they seem to dislike. They usually have no knowledge about the topic because it's outside their expertise.
💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞
😁❤️
the art market isn't about art, it's about money
any artist who determines the value of anyone's art on this metric is insecure about their own artistic worth.
art is the process, the product after that is of little importance
If a curator or museum decided “who’s an artist,” 99.8 percent of people’s works *wouldn’t* be art?? Hah, I have news for you!
Well there's a big difference between decorative art, commercial art, lowbrow art and fine art. Yes the fine art world is full of crap and its all about connections but if you paint in the style of 1 of the first 3 the chances of you making it to the fine art world are 100k to 1, so it's easy not to care when you won't ever be allowed in anyways. Just speaking truths.
There is some truth to this, but as much as people want to set boundaries and labels to art, it's all just a perception. Decorative, commercial, and lowbrow are just forms of fine art once they are determined to be. A Monet can be determined decorative, a Toulouse-Lautrec can be considered commercial, Dali can be considered lowbrow, yet all of these are fine art. So, yes you are speaking your truth, but not an ultimate truth.
@@Rafiwashere True, but the thing about these artists that you mention along with so many others is that these artists who are now considered fine art were some of the first to do their style in their time. Someone to do Monet style now would not even be looked at by a fine art gallery. You have to be first to do it, place it in the right places and get very lucky.
very true look at graffiti they did art and for years no one considerd it art but there people as u say lol now the art world reconizes supports sell graffitti art ast fine art galleries n acutions like screw m they just like what there told or the trends is at the time hey turn there nose up one min at a art or artist then tell ya to buy it the next cuz its cuttin edge or whatever !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! art is art simple as that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mona Lisa got famous because she was stolen by an Italian who kept it in his kitchen for a couple of years...;)