The Fine Art of Mediocrityby: Bill Trantham
Traditionally, an artist is expected to wait to be "discovered" before he or she is able to earn any real money. And, that process dictates that one drag their portfolio from gallery to gallery, hoping to land a "showing"; have their work displayed in said gallery so an elite group of anal-retentive patrons with hefty checkbooks can decide whether or not one's work is good enough for the rest of the world to see. Amazing, huh? I gave this a shot. I had a few showings and even sold a few paintings. I even got published a time or two and figured that that was about as good as it was ever going to get, that "being discovered" or "arriving" in the art world was never going to happen for me. I would never be another Andy Warhol or Jackson Pollock! I was quite depressed for a time, then finally realized that most artists in the world were probably never going to be great; another Warhol or Pollock. I also realized that "greatness" is a very illusive concept that is often defined as much by luck as it is by true talent. The belief that sustained me was that the average person does not have to recognize greatness, they only have to know what they like. And, I knew that if people like something, they will buy that something regardless. The trick, then, was to bypass the art establishment and take it direct to the people; let them decide. For the past three years, I have been offering my less-than-great artistic services to the average person via the internet. I am proud to say that I have not had to suffer through another "showing" in all that time and that I am making a comfortable living just being myself; mediocre. I provide "cute" little drawings that will never hang anywhere more prominent than the wall of Joe Blow's den. Bill Trantham is a retired mental health counselor who now works at home drawing caricatures from photos via the internet. http://www.sillybill.com
Traditionally, an artist is expected to wait to be "discovered" before he or she is able to earn any real money. And, that process dictates that one drag their portfolio from gallery to gallery, hoping to land a "showing"; have their work displayed in said gallery so an elite group of anal-retentive patrons with hefty checkbooks can decide whether or not one's work is good enough for the rest of the world to see. Amazing, huh? I gave this a shot. I had a few showings and even sold a few paintings. I even got published a time or two and figured that that was about as good as it was ever going to get, that "being discovered" or "arriving" in the art world was never going to happen for me. I would never be another Andy Warhol or Jackson Pollock! I was quite depressed for a time, then finally realized that most artists in the world were probably never going to be great; another Warhol or Pollock. I also realized that "greatness" is a very illusive concept that is often defined as much by luck as it is by true talent. The belief that sustained me was that the average person does not have to recognize greatness, they only have to know what they like. And, I knew that if people like something, they will buy that something regardless. The trick, then, was to bypass the art establishment and take it direct to the people; let them decide. For the past three years, I have been offering my less-than-great artistic services to the average person via the internet. I am proud to say that I have not had to suffer through another "showing" in all that time and that I am making a comfortable living just being myself; mediocre. I provide "cute" little drawings that will never hang anywhere more prominent than the wall of Joe Blow's den. Bill Trantham is a retired mental health counselor who now works at home drawing caricatures from photos via the internet. http://www.sillybill.com
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