Art & Creativity: Obsession With "Newness" vs Authenticity

We humans do seem to have almost an obsession with "newness."

Maybe I am just getting a bit curmudgeonly in my old age, but whenever I am vending at an arts & crafts event and someone asks me "what's NEW," I feel an strong temptation to reply "I'm not too sure, but I can show you what's GOOD!"

Regardless, relatively few people who want to know what's new actually end up buying any art, and I wind up reflecting on the distinct possibility that the real question has nothing to do with newness, and everything to do with the fact that they don't actually like what I am showing, and they hope I have some magic box of tricks somewhere, from which will emerge what they are looking for, rather than what I paint.

Of course, the thing about "the new" is that it invariably becomes old within a relatively short period of time.

Besides, most of these thoughts I'm having are likely related to my own insecurities as a creator...

On Staying Authentic to Your Art

Back when I kept physical art galleries and talked to numerous artists on a regular basis, the "newness issue" often reared its ugly head in unfortunate ways.

"Unfortunate" meaning that artists would constantly try to reinvent themselves with new styles of work as an attempt to stay interesting to their ostensible audience.

For my money, that's placing the emphasis in the wrong place!

It's more important to ask yourself whether you are authentically pursuing your creative spirit. Maybe your thing is to always paint bees — because life is like a Hive — and that is what fills your creative well. Why on Earth should you put a bunch of effort into coming up with a completely different style... all for the sake of always churning out "something new."

I realize that many of us want to enjoy some commercial success, as well. And so, there's sometimes a choice to be made, there.

But it's a choice with some deeper implications... in the sense that it's not necessarily just commerce you're choosing, but you're also walking down a road where your art goes from being a deeply intimate expression of your creative vision to being — more or less — "just a job you do for money."

I always like to relate the story of famous American artist Georgia O'Keefe who struggled considerably during her earlier days as an artist... until her partner — photographer Alfred Stieglitz — suggested that she stopped focusing so much on audience and instead focus entirely on painting for HERSELF.

The simple suggesting marked the turning point at which she started gaining the renown she subsequently enjoyed!

Of course we want people to "like us," but wouldn't you rather be liked for the true expression of yourself, as opposed to for your ability to predict and execute work others expect of you?

I know which one I would apply to myself, but we each have to discover what's truly important to us, when it comes to creativity!

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