Trash Talk Aimed at Artists

So I saw this basketball movie while I was sick in bed a week ago, and in it I saw this coach tell the baller he was training that he had to learn to deal with trash talk. More specifically, he had to learn how to not let trash talk get to him and still be able to play the game.
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It wasn’t easy, to say the least ~ you wouldn’t believe what the poor guy had to listen to. Of course he gave it to the trash talker, and of course everyone shook their heads and said tsk, tsk, couldn’t handle it. Poor guy got ejected from the game and of course the trash talker had a huge stupid grin.

You might think this was weird, but I’ve always been able to draw some sort of parallel between art and sports ~ but never more than about a week ago when I found myself watching this film.

Because there is a lot of trash talk aimed at artists ~ or well at least, I’ve heard my share. And the sad thing is, sometimes it’s from your fellow artists ~ just like how the basketball players in the movie were trash talking their colleagues.

But see, like that baller in the movie, we really just need to learn to ignore those j**k ****s and focus on our practice.

Buuut I guess we’re only mortal (if not human), so I guess we (or okay fine, I) can’t help but vent sometimes. And I guess I’m sharing this to let you know that if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of trash along the lines of the following, you’re not alone and ~ here’s my nail-studded baseball bat. (Just. Kidding.)
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1. Nobody likes your work.

How would they know? Do they know everybody? Maybe it’s true one can’t please everyone with one’s work, but I remember hearing somewhere before that for every art piece, there’s a buyer. Or that all artists have their niche, viz.  their ‘target market’ ~ it just takes some of us longer to find it.
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Unless the people who say this say it after (a lot of) other people have ~ or they were democratically elected to speak on everybody’s behalf lol, chances are they’re really just giving their own opinion. Everybody’s entitled to an opinion (right, Mr Scott?) ~ although, boy don’t we wish some of them would keep it to themselves.

2. You’ll never get anywhere with your art. ​

This is usually followed by something along the lines of ‘don’t quit your day job’ (or get one). In any case, define ‘anywhere’ ~ personally, I think this definition should come from you. It’s your practice so you get to decide where you want to go with it and how to get there.  And chances are, your idea of ‘anywhere’ may not line up with their idea of ‘anywhere’.

For all they know, you’re probably already where you want to be, and there’s also a pretty good chance that they don’t exactly know what ‘anywhere’ is, themselves.

Also, for me, as long as you keep making things, you’re going somewhere, for sure. I think it’s impossible for a practising artist to stay in one place, even if they should be making the same thing over and over again ~ because that would make them masters at whatever it is they’re making. And for what it’s worth, achieving mastery of something is definitely somewhere in my book.
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3. [Insert unflattering description of your work here]

A few examples I’ve heard include ‘splotchy’, ‘cookie-cutter’, and ‘yeah, that looks like that was done in a day’. Okay, one man’s insult is another man’s praise, but what I’m talking about here is when people say things about your work that make you red in the face.

Again, the opinion thing. And then a few other things: Well, let’s see them do better, lol. And if they can (actually do better) (define ‘better’ in the first place) ~ why haven’t they? And if they have ~ then perhaps they’re bullies and not the kind of people you want as fans, anyway, i.e. they’re not your ‘target market’.

In which case, you don’t need to waste time or energy on them.
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4. You can’t be a ‘serious artist’.

Or more like ‘you’re not a serious artist’ or something to the effect of you not taking your work seriously. Regardless of the intention of whoever might say this to you, if you do and you have, in fact, hitherto given everything to your practice, this can actually be pretty insulting.

And while Mr Scott did also say ‘we’re big enough to take a few insults’, he did also finally cave when the insults were directed at his work.

But unlike everybody’s favourite chief engineer, rather than pitch into the Klingon trash talker, let’s remember ~ we know we’re serious about our practice, even if nobody else knows it. Because maybe it doesn’t show (or won’t, for a while) ~ and in any case, again, how would they know?

I should hope anybody who really did know would never say this to you, and I would think that only anybody who didn’t would even think about saying this to begin with. And if they didn’t know, then this doesn’t count x is quite groundless, actually, and shouldn’t matter, really.
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5. I don’t think your work is worth that much.

So someone asks after your work and you say how much you’re selling it for, and you’re told flat out that ‘it’s nice, but I don’t think it’s worth [insert your price here].’ I’m assuming you’re not asking for a gazillion dollars or the Klopman Diamond but for something fair given your time, resources and so on.

If this person doesn’t think it’s worth it, then, again, not your ‘target market’. So it’s not because your work really isn’t worth it, it’s more like, this person isn’t worth your time lol. (Plus I daresay your work deserves a better owner.)
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6. Lol I can do that (or do better) with Photoshop (or AI).

I’m not going into the whole AI thing here, but I am going into a medium thing. Of course this applies to artists using traditional mediums; artists using digital media have their own travails ~ but seriously, for me, this might be an apples to oranges thing. Or, ‘I can *play* that piano piece better on a synthesiser’.

I think the skills might be different plus the whole Marshall McLuhan thing, and, the results might be different, too (or at least they are for me).

This reminds me of my little nephew who seemed to scoff at the idea of drawing something by hand (say, leaves on a tree) over and over when you could just copy-paste them on your phone or tablet. Well, there’s no denying that. Just as there’s also no denying that it’s not quite the same, is it? I’m not saying ‘better’; I’m just saying ‘not quite the same.’
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7. A kid (or monkey, elephant or dog) can do what you do.

You know this reminds of me of when I went to teach one summer at some school. I brought out my ‘sample’ (you know, the ‘finished product’ you show the students as in ‘today, we’ll be making something like this’) ~ it was an oil painting of you know, flowers in a vase?

One of the teacher’s assistants there was all ‘You know one of our kids can paint real realistic like. Like even better than that.’

See, it’s not just about skill, or technique. Think singing, or playing an instrument. It’s not just about hitting the notes, it’s about putting you into it ~ what you feel, what you think, your own experiences and view of the world and all that.

Now I’m not saying kids (or Curious Georges, Babars or Cujo’s) can’t have feelings or thoughts or whatever ~ but if there’s one thing *seasoned* artists have, it’s mileage. (Or just age LOL) And I think perhaps that might, season (as in flavour) the work in ways skill or technique alone can’t.

And again, if the person who said this doesn’t get that (I suppose they don’t, or they wouldn’t have said it) ~ not worth your little grey cells or énergie, mon ami.
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8. You’re just not good enough.

You know, I have this sneaking suspicion that even the artists who are (whatever ‘good’ means)? Don’t think they’re ‘good enough’ either.

Who gets to decide whether you are? Um, I rather think that would be ~ you. Not the gallery, not the critics nor your relatives who secretly think you’re a loser for not being a doctor lawyer CEO ~ or at least National Artist.

But again I have this other sneaking suspicion that all artists never think they’re good enough because they’re always trying to become better ~ not, than anybody else, but rather better than they themselves were, before.

So if someone should say this to you, even if they happen to be, well, someone (*important* or something) ~ I know it bites (and leaves marks, too). I was going to say ‘don’t you listen to them’ ~ but you can’t help it, can you? You’ll hear it, anyway. But just remember that what matters more is, do you (not them) think you’re good enough? And what do you want to do about it?

9. Not you ~ we want a real artist.

So someone says to your face that they want a ‘better’ artist than you. (Or at least somebody people have actually heard of.) Ouch ~ but then, again, if this person just isn’t capable of appreciating what you can do or what you’ve done so far, maybe this person isn’t your targ~ you get the idea. Save your time and energy for worthier causes.

Besides, you never know. The day may come when the people who said this remember it and shoot themselves in the foot for passing up that chance to have you. (Life’s funny that way.)
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10. There’ve never been any famous female artists.

I’m not going into that whole women artists (or just women) thing here. It’s just this was actually said to me once a lifetime ago. I’d very much like to think this person didn’t mean ‘so your being an artist is pointless’ (but I think that’s how I took it).

I remember saying of course there are, and I think the person said ‘I mean in the Philippines’ and I said of course there are, and I think I said Anita Magsaysay-Ho, Nena Saguil and Impy Pilapil ~ I might have said more, but I could see I was already losing my interlocutor [insert blank stare and unspoken ‘Who?’ here].

I don’t remember much more than that, but there was me shrugging and going on my merry way. Because who cares if there really hadn’t been any? I’d do art anyway.

I don’t blame this person (blame me for still remembering what that person said a bazillion years later (so I guess I didn’t exactly go on my merry way). Just like you wouldn’t blame some people for not knowing who Shostakovich or Dvorak is; heck, until I had to know, I didn’t know who Alex Hormozi or Sahil Bloom were.

It’s really just, either you’re into something or not. If you are, you know folks n stuff, and if you don’t, you don’t. So AGAIN ~ [insert *target market* yadda yadda here]
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Trash into Trees

You know I actually had second thoughts about writing this this month ~ it’s so negative ^_^ But I’d already started it (and if I deferred it to next month I would have been sick a month ago lol).

Besides ~ this doesn’t have to end on a sour note. Because trash talk can actually be useful.

Apart from the obvious benefit of you being able to build up an immunity or put on psychological ear plugs if you have to, you know what they always say you should do with trash.

Recycle! Or use it to grow trees ^_^

If you’re told your work sucks or doesn’t make the grade, let that drive you to work harder to make it better (for yourself, and not for them ~ because you want to, not because of what they said). If you’re the type to overthink anyway, might as well use that to your advantage (no point in telling you to not ^o^) and think about why they said what they did.

It’s like panning for gold ~ there might be nuggets in all that dirt and clay. Nuggets you can use to make yourself a better artist. Like ‘Gee, maybe my work would turn out better if I did it like this instead’ type thing. Like Samuel L Jackson said, ‘If life gives you s***, you make Kool Aid.’

The key thing is to not give in to it ~ because if you do and you give up, you’re giving trash talkers exactly what they want. Just like that jerk in the basketball movie who got our hero ejected from the game. Don’t you give them that satisfaction.

Or more importantly, don’t you waste your oh so precious time and energy on retaliation (that’s right, y’all just hand me back that bat, there’s a good artist). You have far better things to use that time and energy on ~ heaven knows those are limited enough, and the only real resources money can’t buy.

Let those that talk trash talk all they want. Sticks and stones. If you must feel anything, let it be pity ~ because you know where their time and resources are going, and it sure as heck ain’t anywhere to their advantage.
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