Inspiration is overrated

So, Art got up, he has to make a new painting for his next exhibition...in fact he needs to make 5!

It all started so great, being invited for this great exhibition in Chelsea, the current walhalla of art in the West of New York.
And when they asked how many art works he would want to have in the show, he enthusiastically said '6 should be fine'...
That was around 6 months ago...
And here he stood, in front of a plain white canvas...with lowest energy ever...
He was angry...but angry for what...and angry on who?
- for the shining white canvas that looked at him, giving him way too many options
- for the loads of ideas he has, but of which none seem really to inspire him now
- for the bloody gallery that kept sending mails, reminders, checks etc, pushing his creativity in their structure...bastards
- for himself basically being way too optimistic
- on his incontinence not being able to keep his mouth shut when being enthusiastic
- AND his ego that just took over for 5 seconds
- for linear time, that passed by so quickly...bloody Einstein saying time is relevant...what a bullsh*t!
- for inspiration that always evaporates when time pressure increases
- for all the distractions and his inability to resist and focus...

Yes, quite an impressive list of things and people to blame...and of course deep down he knew that it was basically himself that was the root cause of all this...but he did not want to hear now, he just wanted to be grumpy.

And he knows the theories about inspiration and the key guidelines:
- find a clear direction for your art works, where you want to go
- limit yourself, just take 2 colours and 1 subject
- and start the journey, exploring and adjusting, each time refining your art work
But he felt already too tired to even select 2 colours...

So, what to do?
He actually felt like taking a nice beer, maybe the alcohol would free him...well, he knows that alcohol does not help the quality of the work...
Or just throwing some paint on the canvas and go 'Pollock'...
Well, he was sure he would find something, and he know he would in the end be on time, but he also know it would be last minute intense stress and no sleep for a few nights

While thinking of all this he started walking to the drawer where he kept his paints, he sighed...slowly preparing the canvas...and a smile came on his face...why did he somehow always have to go through this phase...?
Anyway, inspiration is highly overrated..!

How to deal with exhibition openings

Recently Art Burshy has become more successful; he has been invited to participate in several exhibitions, he gets weekly mails inviting him for new events.
Part of these events and exhibitions are the openings or 'vernissages'.

Now, Art in general does not really like to talk to people that have no clue about art. They would raise polite questions that generally have a shockingly harsh undertone (or is this just the way Art perceives it...as an artist with too low of a self-esteem...)
- why do you make abstract art, really
>>> in fact saying "man, couldn't you just make a normal realistic painting that I can understand and show you can actually paint"
- which education did you have
>>>  do you actually have the skills to call yourself an artist
- how much did you sell
>>> who would ever buy these kind of art works
- why are your art works price in this way
>>> why would anyone pay this much for such a painting, it cant be that difficult to make this yourself, etc

But during openings Art somehow likes the sort of adoration.
He would never really admit it, but somehow when a crowd discovers that you are one of the artists, all of a sudden you have their attention.
They will start saying what they like about your art, even sort of competing in who-can-best-articulate-what-the-painting-is-about.
And then the way they look at Art...like they are ready to write down any shitty thing he says as if it is the ultimate wisdom just born from the mouth of a fantastic oracle.
It is bloody brilliant!!!

But then half way these openings he sort of has enough of it all, like an allergy that starts erupting, and he just can't stand the flatness of the remarks, the silly questions and most: people that start defending utterly stupid views.
It makes Art snap out of his 'dream' and give him the urge to become shockingly honest...go against what is expected, give up the image as the brilliant and gifted artist. Things he will say will be like:
"well - you know - actually I painted this one with my foot, and I sort of like the colours", or
"I actually hate the art works of 80% of the other artists; they don't even know how to hold a brush", or
"guys, just stop sucking up and let me know when you really want to understand modern art", or
"that's all nice, but I would prefer being at home with my wife and kids".

So Art did not really work it out yet.
And he tries to find guidelines for himself to not end up in too much of this superficial stuff, like:
"avoid exhibitions with large number of random visitors" and
"only talk to people that actually look at the paintings (and not just drinking champagne and talking)" and
"go to the toilet if the bullshit talk gets too much"

Until now this works, and somewhere deep inside Art understands that part of all this is somehow required to become known as an artist.
And he will just try to make the best of it.