But Is It Art?

What do you do when you want to be creative and make art, but struggle to find an audience? What is the purpose of art, if you don’t have someone to share it with, to discuss it?

There are billions of people in the world, a huge population increase having boomed in the previous century and we are all so much closer nowadays without having to physically be in proximity with one another. So, how do you contend with such easy access to such a vast number of people and getting your creations seen and acknowledged, appreciated over such a wide variety of art in the world? Do you even need to? Can art exist even if you are the only one who sees it? Do we really want everybody to appreciate our art, or are we junkies for the endorphins that come with praise and adoration at our skill, talent and expression?

Once upon a time, there were a limited number of published books in the world, only a handful of authors had their work reaching an audience, with less competition to grapple with. People lived in smaller communities, pockets of people were known to one another, neighbours and fellow villagers, having time to invest in closer friendships.

Part of my struggle with my craft(s) right now is grappling with the desire and drive to create, and with reasoning why I do it. I have spent a long time not creating art, not exploring my talents and skills, so perhaps it is all a short term scramble before everything smooths out and I need to give it time to find a happy medium. Yet whilst I’m currently in this pickle, lets say that I have an idea for a piece of art (painting, sketch, piece of writing, a film) and I spend time creating it, finish it, feel personally pleased with the result, but at the end of it, there is no where to showcase it, or no one to see it, no one to feedback. Last year, I created two specific pieces for my sisters: paintings of their children. I gifted the art to them and as far as I could tell, they were very happy with them. I had ideas for pieces of art, I made those pieces of art, I had people to give them to and those people appreciated them. Great! But what about the pieces I created because I wanted to, without anyone specific in mind to make them for? Do I say, ok these are good for practice, improvement, general enjoyment, even relaxation, but then they go into my makeshift, flattened and sticky taped cardboard box of a portfolio folder, to sit, do nothing, go nowhere and be seen by no one. Ok, so pop them on the website, or on Instagram, reach further and wider to all those billions of people. Except unless you rigorously plug your online presence, you may not get your work seen the way you hoped. Someone likes your art post, great, but clicking a love heart whilst scrolling through Instagram could mean anything from “scrolly, scrolly, ooh, that looks nice, click, scrolly, scrolly!”, to “ooh, I’m a bot and I am artificially intelligent enough to be able to like this post”. Of course that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the time users have taken to even give my work the time of day, or the 1 follower of my website who yes, happens to be my father in law. It just comes down to that question again, what is the purpose of art?

Many celebrities are artists and many other people love celebrities because they embody and possess a grandiose life. This might be admired, because we all want a picture perfect life, fame, love, money, happiness, but there is also a part of celebrity adoration that I think stems from a shared love of what they do for a living, which is the thing we love as a hobby, or our own livelihood, but on a smaller scale. There is that feeling of loving something so much – a piece of music, a work of art, a passage of writing – you want to know there is at least one other person out there who shares that same feeling, who gets it. Or you want to have someone to discuss it with, to share your love for it with, all to the point where your endorphins are so strong, you want to burst!

When you take an interest in something with someone else and you discuss it to death, don’t you just love that feeling of shared appreciation, where you get excited with the other person, can’t wait to get your words out amongst the chatter and love that someone else feels exactly the same way as you do about that interest?

Perhaps that's the wonder of art and it's purpose and perhaps that’s what I’m after.