Podcast: Download (Duration: 10:38 — 19.5MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | RSS
This is episode 30 of Art Talk Let’s talk comparisonitis!
You wake up, pick up your phone and start scrolling. Sounds familiar? For me, that has been a reality for a while. But what can happen to us as artists with so many people showing their creations online? It is called comparasonitis, a negative way to downgrade yourself and your art.
I think this is something that happens with a lot of artists. I admit that I also fell into the trap. It paralysed me in progress. Social media is flooded with people who show their work. Some are professionally trained artists. Many are hobbyists, and often you see those who shout out loud that they sold many artworks or have commission after commission.
How You Might Feel
You might feel why that artist has those commissions or is selling so much, and you are not. Or you might even feel: how is that possible because my work is way better? Or, why am I not accepted for the exhibition? It is a feeling you do not want to have because it paralyses. You will have difficulty continuing with your work or copying other artists, wishfully thinking: it will be successful.
I never did that and never will. However, it happened with the artists Rothko, De Kooning, and Modigliani. They were copied. Forgers started copying work or painting the topics like the much-wanted artist because their art did not sell. Do not do that, don’t go there. Be your own artist with your own work.
Tell a secret
Because let me tell you a little secret here, the life shown on social media is not real life. You don’t know how successful people are, you have no clue how much money they asked for the work, and you do not know if that is consistent or just a one-off. And then, does it matter? No, it does not. I will give you 5 tips on how to overcome comparisonitis.
Follow me on: