Rules for Being an Artist
- Jan 9
- 1 min read
1 Don’t be embarrassed
2 Tell your own story and you will be interesting – Louise Bourgeois
3 Feel free to imitate
4 Art is not about understanding, or mastery
5 Work, work, work
6 Start with a pencil
7 Develop forms of practice
8 Now, redefine skill
9 Embed thought in material – Roberta Smith
10 Find your own voice
11 Listen to the crazy voices in your head
12 Know what you hate
13 Scavenge
14 Compare cats and dogs
15 Understand that art is not just for looking at
16 Learn the difference between subject matter and content
17 See as much as you can
18 All art is identity art!
19 All art was once contemporary art
20 Accept that you will likely be poor
21 Define success
22 It takes only a few people to make a career
23 Learn to write
24 Artists must be vamp
25 Learn to deal with rejection
26 Make an enemy of envy
27 Having a family is fine
28 What you don’t like is as important as what you do like
29 Art is a form of knowing yourself
30 Artists do not own the meaning of their work – Roberta Smith
31 All art is subjective
32 You must prize vulnerability
33 Be delusional
Jerry Salz