The fact is we must all work at the art of selling our Art
The creative process is varied by medium and artist, inspiration as much as time, space and imagination but it does not end with the last paint brush stroke or pen and blue-black ink line shape. It does not end with that last camera shutter snap or when the enter key clicks to save that .psd, .doc or .jpg filed, foldered, favored. It does not end when it ends. It is when the work is finished that work begins, the work of getting the work into the wind, beyond four-walled worlds to somewhere else all together new, online and in person – all art needs an audience otherwise it’s only really an object, a thing, a place of your defining. All art is an object but not all objects are art, never mind beginnings and endings. Audience gives art the size, shape and opportunity to go beyond identity of or by the artist, to thrive, the work, the work of the work to be sold in order for the artist to start all over again.
The creative process is varied by medium and artist but it does not begin until the art finds identity, art through audience identified, art the object becoming the art object in order to be sold, the work of the work to see the art sold funds the artist to return to the drawing board, the work of the work of art is the art of the work to see the work sold. This is the circle of life of art, art the work of the circle of art from imagination to something identifiable, a tangible identity, an object of art that becomes an art object, art shared and sold, an audience comes full fold, the creator must become the promoter, selling that which must be sold in order for the artist to survive, to grow old, to put art out into the world from the heart and for the soul.
If any work of art is ever really finished, the art of the hard work of selling your art begins, either by yourself or someone else to get your art from the void into the world. Despite the idea of it, what some have you believe is true, that to create is to themselves enough and not for audience at all, their objects of art fail to become the art objects of shared experience, identifiable difference, the sameness that all artists seek to share their work with someone, sometimes for money, fame and fortune, always in order to get on with creation so the start begins, the process, the art making all over again, followed immediately, inevitably, necessarily the art of the work of selling your work.
Above the Line 
Warhol and Oldenburg both used mundane objects as subjects for their artwork. The artist Roy Lichtenstein also selected an everyday object—a turkey—for subject of one of his works, but he represented it in a different way.
You’ll chastise me for using such a famous example but it’s the most relevant: Van Gogh only sold one painting in his life-time.
All the others existed and sat, somewhere, with not intrinsic value, and Van Gogh simply created time and time again to express himself – something that did not justify itself through financial gains.
Personally, for me, anything created by man is a work of art. Whether it is any good or not is the crucial juncture – and this can be determined by the mother who is proud of her childs work and sticks it on the fridge; and it can be justified by the estimated cost exceeding $500,000. Either way.
Hey, no, not at all. The fact that so many have failed at the “art of the work of selling art” is much more common than most people think. When you hear about how much art is sold for or valued at, it’s pretty easy to imagine the artist benefiting the most. Actually many, many of the most famous have died in poverty – including Van Gogh as you mentioned – which is such a terrible shame. Poe died similarly, as did Cezanne, Monet, Blake, Wilde, etc., etc.
I think we all create to “express ourselves” and most strive to one day live from such expressions. It’s the chasm of realizing those dreams that so many find themselves.
I can’t agree with you that anything is art for myriad of reasons, primarily from the perspective of distinction, qualification and quantification. It’s as much about knowing the difference as it is experiential. An age old debate if ever there was one.
{seeing now we started this discussion before] https://rorydean.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/achieving-an-aesthetic-experience-of-art/
And of course this: https://rorydean.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/is-measure-the-foundation-of-the-beautiful/
Here’s an article I wrote on why I write: https://rorydean.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/i-write-2012-not-what-you-think/
If selling your work is (what we like or dislie) to the artist what art is to the purchaser, the audience, what does it say when the art dies with the artist never known never sold never given the quality of a price tag?
Hey John..The creative process is varied by medium and artist but it does not begin until the art finds identity, art through audience identified, art the object becoming the art object in order to be sold, the work of the work to see the art sold funds the artist to return to the drawing board, the work of the work of art is the art of the work to see the work sold. I think of it in terms of a cycle, keeping in mind the controversial “what is art” argument, and certainly if the art dies with the artist and is never qualified or quantified – well, how would anyone know what it was if it wasn’t hanging on a wall, in a frame, on a table top. Sure, it might be obvious but then we have to go back to https://rorydean.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/is-measure-the-foundation-of-the-beautiful/
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