Do you ever think about what your dream home would look like if money
were no object? Would it look like luxury home photos in magazines?
Would you be surrounded by expensive furniture and whatever art and
decor that was trendy and expensive at the time? Would you want things
like a pool and a tennis court even if you don’t really like to swim or
play tennis? Or would it be a completely unique place all of your own?
I’ve recently been thinking a lot about what makes us want something, and why sometimes we find ourselves wanting things that don’t really fit us as individuals. Sometimes we want things because its more about them helping us fit in rather than those things fitting who we are.
Lately I've seen multiple articles like this about Etsy’s most successful seller. http://www.inquisitr.com/1863026/thr...libaba-claims/ I’ve started to completely rethink my approach to selling art.
Common advice to artists is to become a brand. Basically this means to somehow magically make distinctive art and become famous at the same time. This is great advice because our society is brand obsessed. Even as artists, we are brand obsessed. Etsy’s most successful seller created a brand that is so big that now she must have her designs mass produced. She's definitely a brand but is she an artist?
Is it really Etsy’s problem that they have to find a way to survive and thrive as a huge popular website that serves a culture that is brand obsessed? Just like food brands would have never taken corn syrup out of their products before documentaries like Food, Inc, got so popular, Etsy won’t change before the culture does.
I believe that big brands are as to artists as huge farms are to small local farms. The reason that so many people desperately want to sell their art and work for themselves is to avoid having to work a soulless unfulfilling career, but ironically many of those soulless careers are working for a big brand. I think marketing is often approached by other artists as a way to get their art seen by more people and bought by more customers over other artists. I can give you advice on how you personally can get an edge over other artists by finding the right keywords and optimizing your listings for search engines, etc, but that can only help one person be able to quit their regular 9-5 to sell their art.
Other artists aren’t your competition, brands are. If we can work to sell art itself to people instead of just marketing our own art and trying to find a way to tell everyone how great your work is without sounding egocentric or stepping on others toes or spamming all your fans you’ll create real change in the world. The hands that make products for a brand don’t belong to the minds that dreamed them up and in that disconnect the “soul” is lost. Art has soul. Art that is created in the mind and made by the hands of the artists that belong to that mind, that are ONE with that mind, that art has soul.
The problem is that as a culture we don’t put a monetary value on that. We dismiss that “soul” as oh you made something cute, oh she is crafty. Oh he does art for a hobby. Then we turn around and put a huge monetary value on something mass produced or even made in a sweatshop because it has a brand name. Someone put a lot of money into advertising and product research to make you aware of that thing. They spent a lot of money to make you believe that if you own and display that thing that it will enhance your ego or impress people you don’t really care about.
A masterfully crafted craft or piece of original art is not something that you throw away when the trend has passed. Rather there is no trend to come or go but the thing has true value that is more likely to increase then quickly diminished with time. The less well known the artist and the more original the art, the less brand like it is.
Trends in fashion are the most ridiculous waste of resources because essentially a trend is started by a few brave people who discover they want to be different from everyone else and everyone else wants to be different too so they all end up looking the same. Then it’s on to the new trends. Trends are destroying the earth. Instead buy an original piece of art that speaks to you, that you love and be original.
Before you purchase something ask yourself? Why do I like this? Do I like it just because I like the brand name? Do I like it because it’s popular? Do I value it because I think it has value or because my friend thinks it has value? How much is this actually worth considering the materials and time spent on workmanship? Whose hands made this and who designed it? Are they the same person? If not how greatly removed are they?
I’ve recently been thinking a lot about what makes us want something, and why sometimes we find ourselves wanting things that don’t really fit us as individuals. Sometimes we want things because its more about them helping us fit in rather than those things fitting who we are.
Lately I've seen multiple articles like this about Etsy’s most successful seller. http://www.inquisitr.com/1863026/thr...libaba-claims/ I’ve started to completely rethink my approach to selling art.
Common advice to artists is to become a brand. Basically this means to somehow magically make distinctive art and become famous at the same time. This is great advice because our society is brand obsessed. Even as artists, we are brand obsessed. Etsy’s most successful seller created a brand that is so big that now she must have her designs mass produced. She's definitely a brand but is she an artist?
Is it really Etsy’s problem that they have to find a way to survive and thrive as a huge popular website that serves a culture that is brand obsessed? Just like food brands would have never taken corn syrup out of their products before documentaries like Food, Inc, got so popular, Etsy won’t change before the culture does.
I believe that big brands are as to artists as huge farms are to small local farms. The reason that so many people desperately want to sell their art and work for themselves is to avoid having to work a soulless unfulfilling career, but ironically many of those soulless careers are working for a big brand. I think marketing is often approached by other artists as a way to get their art seen by more people and bought by more customers over other artists. I can give you advice on how you personally can get an edge over other artists by finding the right keywords and optimizing your listings for search engines, etc, but that can only help one person be able to quit their regular 9-5 to sell their art.
Other artists aren’t your competition, brands are. If we can work to sell art itself to people instead of just marketing our own art and trying to find a way to tell everyone how great your work is without sounding egocentric or stepping on others toes or spamming all your fans you’ll create real change in the world. The hands that make products for a brand don’t belong to the minds that dreamed them up and in that disconnect the “soul” is lost. Art has soul. Art that is created in the mind and made by the hands of the artists that belong to that mind, that are ONE with that mind, that art has soul.
The problem is that as a culture we don’t put a monetary value on that. We dismiss that “soul” as oh you made something cute, oh she is crafty. Oh he does art for a hobby. Then we turn around and put a huge monetary value on something mass produced or even made in a sweatshop because it has a brand name. Someone put a lot of money into advertising and product research to make you aware of that thing. They spent a lot of money to make you believe that if you own and display that thing that it will enhance your ego or impress people you don’t really care about.
A masterfully crafted craft or piece of original art is not something that you throw away when the trend has passed. Rather there is no trend to come or go but the thing has true value that is more likely to increase then quickly diminished with time. The less well known the artist and the more original the art, the less brand like it is.
Trends in fashion are the most ridiculous waste of resources because essentially a trend is started by a few brave people who discover they want to be different from everyone else and everyone else wants to be different too so they all end up looking the same. Then it’s on to the new trends. Trends are destroying the earth. Instead buy an original piece of art that speaks to you, that you love and be original.
Before you purchase something ask yourself? Why do I like this? Do I like it just because I like the brand name? Do I like it because it’s popular? Do I value it because I think it has value or because my friend thinks it has value? How much is this actually worth considering the materials and time spent on workmanship? Whose hands made this and who designed it? Are they the same person? If not how greatly removed are they?
