Artist, Don't Lose Yourself..

The artist's struggle to transcend his pain can become the seed for many others' hope, transforming a personal journey into a vision for us all. 

Diane Cole

What does it mean to lose you? It have different meanings depends on situation and personality. I will talk today about artists.

What does it mean to start losing yourself as an artist and how to stop? I met a lot of artists who are working only for selling. Who is painting the high demand art subjects and whose main prerogative is to sell does not matter what. They are trying to paint strictly into the clients demand. But each artist has a style – you would tell me. That is true, but what about feelings and emotions of the artists during the creative process? Artists whose main field is commission are not losing themselves?

In art, a commission is the hiring and payment for the creation of a piece, often on behalf of another. Artwork may be commissioned by private individuals, by the government, or businesses. Commissions often resemble endorsement or sponsorship.

Every professional artist has orders. Just don’t make money rule you. I paint orders from time to time, but not everything and not “in the box” of clients demands. You must understand that artists is the moving soul, always in search for perfection, with tons of demons and muses inside and around. Artist as poet and writer is in the endless conflict with himself and world around. Pure true artists are not able to develop themselves under the pressure of clients and under the pressure of art works they would not choose to paint.

I remember that every time I do art work on commission is not art for me, not pure art. I work as a designer more, as a craftsman if you wish. Of course if you have orders that mean people love your art and your style. But trust me they like to have your style in their way. Artists do not like to hear things like – change this, this color is too bright, and this object should be bigger and so on… As if I am back to art school again. I am not in art school and as long as you are ordering my art, don’t ask me to change a thing.

This topic is very unusual, because I am sure some of you, my artists, will tell me that commission art is still art. I would never fully agree on that. As for me art work is “clot” of feelings, emotions, ideas, skills which you make into perfect aesthetical “world” in canvas. Art work is forever changing landscapes behind train window of artist’s soul, which you must show to the world. Art work is surrealistical dreams covered into oil and pigment, which you have right not to explain to anyone.

So the question is how to stop losing yourself doing commission work. Should we stop take art orders – you would ask me. No, of course not, because as long as artists must be starving to make beautiful art, still we should have money for water and bread sometimes. So of course keep taking orders, keep searching clients. But don’t sacrifice yourself only for this work.

Don’t make your art purely commercial. Please remember who you are, and never stop paining even if you see your art is not selling.

Live to bring your feelings, emotions, and demons into beauty of your art. Turn your stories, ideas, inspiration and pain into art. And do it the way you want it, the way you see it, and in the style you feel today. Don’t help this consuming world eat you. Don’t make “popcorn” world change subjects of your works, styles and you. Not everything is for sale, especially if we are talk about artist’s soul.

Don’t take an order if you felt it’s not your work; don’t take it if you know you would not give all your heart. And directly tell clients that you would not change anything.

Art is not a game, it’s not a hobby, it’s our life, and it’s our world. Don’t break it and don’t compromise it. I chose to be artist and I knew from the early age that art will never bring me millions (at least till I die), I chosen to be an artist because I knew I would not do anything else so good with all my heart and soul as art. And remember why you started to be an artist?

Sometimes you struggle so hard to feed your family one way, you forget to feed them the other way, with spiritual nourishment. Everybody needs that. 

James Brown