Let’s face it, most people struggle with identity their entire
life. Some people deal with it by writing songs about it (Think back to Neil
Diamond’s “I am… I Said”, or for all of you Disney fans Christina Aguilera… er
I mean Mulan in “Reflection”). Even some hugely talented artists don’t consider
themselves artists. In my Senior Seminar class we discussed how important it is
to call yourself an artist and own it. Many people believe the opposite, that
calling yourself an artist means you’re not a real artist (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070104073418AAOLVvD)
This is related to the stereotype of calling yourself an artist being a
horrible and stuck up thing to say. Every artist experiences the critic who
will deny you just because you’re an artist. Whether their reasoning is because
you aren’t intelligent because you “doodle all day” or because “you’re career
path is going nowhere”. These people are idiots. Let’s think about it for a
second: we draw all day because it’s our passion and passions are what drive us
to keep going no matter what. One of my teachers once told me that our passion
as artists is so amazing because we’re willing to work anywhere just to be able
to work on our art. Plus let’s face it we deal with critics all the time, why
should this critique hurt us? Well yes this one is not just about our artwork
but about our lives, and for some people art is why we wake up in the morning
or the only time that our minds calm down. So I say stay own it.
No matter what career path you choose you will find people who
fake their way into it, it’s just life. But genuine artists shouldn’t be looked
down upon for calling themselves artists or believing in themselves and what
they do. Art is a passion. Passions are things that people cannot take from
you. Calling someone a fake artist just because their art isn’t what you would
consider art doesn’t mean it isn’t art. There are plenty of different types of
art, it isn’t just painting and sculpture anymore. There has been pop art,
architectural art, outsider art, sand art, glitch art, you name it. Not considering
Nam June Paik an artist is like not considering Ma Rainey a blues singer.
If you’re an artist, own it. Believing in yourself and what
you do is only going to make things easier. People don’t need to understand
what you do, hell I don’t understand why someone would want to be a doctor, but
we need doctors. Artists see the world in a different way, calling yourself an
artist doesn’t change anything for anyone else, it only changes how you see
yourself. When I was writing my mini bio in the last blog entry I felt so weird
writing that I was an artist. But whether I think my stuff is good enough to be
considered an artist doesn’t matter, it’s in my mindset and it’s my passion.
