‘I like your work’. This is music to my ears, the unsolicited appreciation of effort.
A chance meeting with a near neighbour (how often do you see your neighbours? I lived in an apartment in London for 2 years and never saw 90% of the residents) who had seen my work in the Harrogate Mercer exhibition.
Should I feel so pleased that people a; see my work and recognise it, and b; comment on it? Yes, I think I should, any of us should. Otherwise the purpose of exhibiting is lost behind a curtain of self-effacement, which surely isn’t healthy.
We are faced with the economic certainty of fewer galleries willing to take work, fewer patrons, and less public money to fund opportunities and exhibitions. At the same time there will be more ’emerging’ artists as some of the newly redundant from both private and public sectors become self-employed painters and jewellry makers and ceramicists.
Its going to get more crowded out there, and our business credentials are going to be important. So the more people who say ‘I like your work’ the better it is.
