300. The Value Of Art

To show your art is never easy. It means not only taking the risk of making something real but also exposing yourself to the commentary and criticism of others. You know you might end up getting more than you expect, and it won’t necessarily be what you want to hear.

Even so, you feel the need to show what you have made to others. You can see that there might be something good in it, something that other people might appreciate and perhaps even love. So you decide to ignore your concerns and you send your art out into the world.

But then a strange thing can happen. You have given people access to your creation for the first time, but no one is saying anything. While you knew that admiration and adulation were unlikely and you worried endlessly about the possibility of harsh criticism, you never for a moment thought that the response to your efforts would be nothing.

You expected someone to at least recognize your work in some way, but it’s almost like your creation doesn’t exist. It can feel like the value of your work has been diminished because it has been ignored. For when it was only you who had seen it, you knew it was real and you could see some value in it. But now even that seems to be in question. From here, it is easy to fall into self-doubt and decide that there never was anything good about your creation in the first place.

But it is important to remember that these judgments are yours alone. The true value of your creation always remains open and undetermined. You have the ability and the courage to continue asserting the value you see in it, even in the face of general indifference.

It is always possible that your art does show something valuable even when other people cannot currently see it. Throughout the history of humanity there have been many impressive works that first fell stillborn from the press. But time supplies vindication and the determined artist knows this. You must find the resolve to keep going, even when your most cherished creation has not yet found the recognition you know it deserves.