Sharika Roland

There is a little talked about issue that concerns art and women.  if you are married to someone who makes a lot of money, it will hurt you.  If you don’t have to over come all kinds of obstacles to get where you are and pay your dues in sweat and blood then nobody will care.

I was an art broker and one of the artists I represented was someone married to a wealthy man. It is not her fault her husband made a lot of money but it did color how everyone viewed her work. And because she did not have to worry about where anything was coming from, the resulting artwork was pretty but shallow. It sounds like being a bigot against wealth but it is true.

Your fellow artists wont respect you getting anything handed to you. And your work will not have the edge it needs to live for any length of time. Obstacles to overcome will make you a much better artist. If anyone disagrees with me I would love to hear it.

Every time we get a new concept it immediately starts to go stale. that is the nature of ideas. creative wise. they are like fresh bread hot from the oven. It smells great and tastes so luxurious to have a hot piece with butter. the ultimate thrill. then one hour later it is not the same cooled down. and then the next few days see it decline in luxury pretty fast. Nuking it might help a little but  not a ton. No nothing is like a piece of hot bread right out of the oven.

Painting is like that too. You get to revel in the new concept a few hours then it is on to the next thing. You can never rest on your laurels.

So you always have to make new loaves of bread every day and you even have to change up the recipe too.

The masterpiece done yesterday is just paving the ground for what is next.

And something always is.

next !

If you do what you want and think you should do you will invariably offend someone. But just because they do not like what you are doing means zero. Unless you are doing something to be purposefully offensive, don’t worry about it.  Undermining is all you get by dwelling on what others think.

Now there is an exception to that rule. That is someone who has done what you are trying to do and has advice. then you should listen. and weigh the consideration out and see if you are missing something.

There are two kinds of people . ones that will encourage you and ones that will drag you down. I try and avoid draggers as I have a hard enough time trying to keep going.

I thank God that several artists had the fortitude to do what everyone said was nuts. Every new thing looks nuts at first because you aren’t used to it. Here is an example. When I was in New York seven years ago this gallery owner had on these weird skinny rectangle glasses. they looked so bizarre and icky. Now everyone wears them. they are the new standard. We get used to things fast. I am saying this because I am doing a new thing and it is going to look weird to you, but I love it.

Will post a pic soon!