Should I blog?

March 10, 2006

Yesterday, Carol Barber of Gainesville, Florida wrote,
"I've been hearing that the way to sell your art
and to be known as an artist these days is to be 
a blogger.
I've read that artists need to connect with the public
because they want to know the artist.
Collectors are buying the artist, not just the art.
I know the most important thing for me is to strive
for high quality in my art.
Marketing seems a tricky business.
Then there is you. The art world knows you as
a friendand you come across as likable,
joyous and living the idyllic artist life. 
Is exposure the answer?" 

Thanks Carol. I've always sort of agreed
with George Bernard Shaw: "When you know the artist 
you think less of the art." 
It seemed better to me to be in my studio,
paying attention to my process, 
striving for demon quality. 
To be straight up, my motivation for writing
the Twice-Weekly letter was to get off a 
whole bunch of arts-related boards
and to try to make my modest 
contribution in a more direct way.
The Internet makes it possible.
I want to help creative people to think about things. 
I also like the idea of the artistic global village,
and the brotherhood and sisterhood of artists. 

Robert Henri said, "Through art, mysterious bonds 
of understanding and of knowledge are established. 
They are the bonds of a great brotherhood. 
Those who are of the brotherhood know each other,
and time and space cannot separate them."
When you get a bit older, like me, 
it's nice to be known by what you think.
I walked into a room the other day
and everyone there was a subscriber.
Some of them were collectors. And they knew, 
golly they knew, what I was thinking about. 
There really is something to be said for not
having to answer the question, 
"Are you still painting?" 

At the present time there are 70,000 new blogs
going up every day. 
Several thousand readers of this letter run 
some sort of blog. 
Some bloggers report hundreds of visitors, others 
thousands. While exposure won't make an 
inadequate artist successful,
blogs are a part of the widespread and ongoing 
democratization of our world.
Unless something comes along to wreck it, the future
is online.
There's a future in posting your art
for the world to see. 
There's a future in telling your story.
There's a future in sharing. Sharing might just be our 
salvation. "Friends share all things." (Plato)  

Best regards,

Robert