Be yourself! To be yourself and also be honest with your feelings is difficult. Many artists are searching to find themselves through painting, using various techniques, materials and finding new ways to create art.
In the art world I touch two areas. One is on the stage and can be viewed. The other is hardly graded, happening behind the stage. The packaging of your art is obviously very sensitive and directly reflects your personality. This can be identified with the term “Marketing” such as your resume and art catalogues, business cards and web-site. This visible part “on the Stage” is able to be analyzed tested and viewed and is directly presented to the market.
The art lovers, galleries and museums need this package for further professional marketing. Such as the media informs us, it all of a sudden becomes the truth. Is this the road to success? Is this the only way for an artist to be accepted? The art critic passes on critic to the artist because they must stay neutral.
I was asked by a Swiss journalist if I was inspired by pure feelings or by my imagination and thoughts. Without too much hesitation I answered: “Off course I need to experience and process a situation which occupies my interest. The new image I develop I firstly visualize in my imagination and then I retreat to my studio to express my feelings.”
An artist is a broad understanding, relative and difficult to define! A true artist the person painting in the studio or is it the person who lives with art in every situation? An artist is often busy digesting and processing exciting and moving situations happening constantly every day. A real artist needs the time to be alone in the studio - time to paint! In this moment it is as if the world doesn’t exist and it is where an artist would describe it as a Magical Time at the Back of the Stage. Have you had the feeling as though you can explode like a balloon in the air? Then there is nothing better to do than just to paint!
What is understood to be good art? I ask myself if an artist can find everyday MUSE to be creative in the studio. When are the works real and unique and when does the moment arrive when one is only busy with production? When comes the moment of repetition or create images in which development can be seen? What is viewed seems only to be the resume, publications and prizes. Why is so much seen in these confined dimensions not further than the four lines within a square? My husband said to me: The truth is boring! It has taken me years to understand this statement.
Today the artist will be asked: “How many paintings have you sold?”, and with this you will be sold to the market. Of course it helps you and gives you the possibility to explore a new project, but one question is forgotten: What does the artist feel when a painting is sold? What is the feeling when the wrapped image is handed to the new owner? Was your art work really so important to you? I have Goosebumps and I know that this feeling is strong, very strong und difficult to be describe. What feeling is it to donate an art work or give to a dear person? Have you been in a situation in which your feelings are strong and joyful, and then word “Thank you!” is not enough? Is it professional or unprofessional to create art as gifts?
And because BEHIND THE STAGE the things, are not measurable and tangible that’s why the Art Profession is so magic like MAGIC itself!
Photo Image: “Behind the Stage” by Lydia van den Berg, 32”x32”, Acrylics on Canvas - Uster, Switzerland, 2011
24 June 2011, Uster - Switzerland
Lydia van den Berg