What Validates You as an Artist

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Congratulations, Allen!
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airfrogusmc wrote in post #18841742
The show in Germany has been completely underwritten, Even my travel and hotel.

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Underwritten by who? . Or by what entity?


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Tom Reichner wrote in post #18841744
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Congratulations, Allen!
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Underwritten by who? . Or by what entity?

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Thanks Tom. There are several folks/agencies involved. I have a friend that is an art and archtecture proffesor (semi retired) that is heavly involve with the art world and has some connections in Germany becasuse of his expertise. He was at my exhibit last June here in Chicago and really loved the exhibit. He sent some of my work and also a book to Germany and they loved the work. He pulled together all the funding for the exhibit. From what i understand some of the funding has been taken care of on their end (Germany and some on this end) though I am not sure who are all the folks that are involved. Just grateful for this opportunity.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #18841749
Thanks Tom. There are several folks/agencies involved. I have a friend that is an art and archtecture proffesor (semi retired) that is heavly involve with the art world and has some connections in Germany becasuse of his expertise. He was at my exhibit last June here in Chicago and really loved the exhibit. He sent some of my work and also a book to Germany and they loved the work. He pulled together all the funding for the exhibit. From what i understand some of the funding has been taken care of on their end (Germany and some on this end) though I am not sure who are all the folks that are involved. Just greatful fot this opportunity.

Congratulations on your exhibits!

airfrogusmc wrote in post #18841742
I think if you don't ever want to share your work and only look at it yourself then all you need is you. But I find exhibiting my work to be very satisfing. I never get tired of it. I have been lucky becasue in the last 3 exhibit I have sold work but that isn't where the satisfaction comes from though it does help to pay for the mat board, frames and other logisitcs. I would say it costs well over a grand to put the work together for an exhibit. It can even be a lot more depending on the size of the prints and the amount of images you are showing. Thats cutting the mats, printing and framing yourself. It's even more if you have someone else do it. I had big exhibit at a gallery here in Chicago last June and I have this in May in Hamburg Germany. The show in Germany has been completely underwritten, Even my travel and hotel. To see your work being displayed the way it was intened to be seen is priceless.

Some press. I had to do google translate to see what it says ha ha.
https://www.biunsinnor​den.de …bservations-chicago-99142

https://www.kulturlots​e.de …icago-2200423803320274011

So there is some validation to this. It lets me know others outside forum land value the way I see. I would work this way whether it was getting attention or not becasue it's just the way I see the world.

For my pro work the validation is the clients and the longevity I have had with most of them and doing really strong work that consistently exceeds their expectations. Those relationships have been built over the decades have allowed me the freedom to buy the equipment I need and support my family doing something I love to do. Like with any job some days are better than others. The good thing about being established and having a couple of dozen trusted and steady clients if for some reason a client is or becomes a pain or is difficult to work with I just don't work for them any more. BTW I only do commercial advertising work which consists of annual reports and envirnmental portraits, brochures, images for websites, billboards and for some clients corporate events. So the proffesional work is what makes everyhting else possibleand supports my persoanl work. Though I have has some success with my persoanl work it is not near enough to give the ones I love the life style they deserve. Hopefully once I retire I will have a lot more time t odevote to the persoanl work and there are a couple of clients that i will continue to do work for as long as they will have me ha ha.

Kofla wrote in post #18841755
Congratulations on your exhibits!

Thanks.

IMO, art is like flavor – liking or hating curry is relevant to your taste, there is no right or wrong.

I’m an artist like someone who can play chopsticks on a piano is a musician, but I still love the tone and resonance of the piano. However, I’m pretty sure if I were to become an excellent photographer my efforts still wouldn’t meet my own expectations.

I guess my validation is occasionally creating or capturing something that has meaning or value to me or others, with a byproduct of chronicling my and my children’s lives.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #18841742
I think if you don't ever want to share your work and only look at it yourself then all you need is you. But I find exhibiting my work to be very satisfing. I never get tired of it. I have been lucky becasue in the last 3 exhibit I have sold work but that isn't where the satisfaction comes from though it does help to pay for the mat board, frames and other logisitcs. I would say it costs well over a grand to put the work together for an exhibit. It can even be a lot more depending on the size of the prints and the amount of images you are showing. Thats cutting the mats, printing and framing yourself. It's even more if you have someone else do it. I had big exhibit at a gallery here in Chicago last June and I have this in May in Hamburg Germany. The show in Germany has been completely underwritten, Even my travel and hotel. To see your work being displayed the way it was intened to be seen is priceless.

Some press. I had to do google translate to see what it says ha ha.
https://www.biunsinnor​den.de …bservations-chicago-99142

https://www.kulturlots​e.de …icago-2200423803320274011

So there is some validation to this. It lets me know others outside forum land value the way I see. I would work this way whether it was getting attention or not becasue it's just the way I see the world.

Really nice work!

mystik610 wrote in post #18841959
Really nice work!

Thank you.