Today’s commercialised culture too often overlooks the difference between artistic practice and the art market. They are very different animals.
The art world—with its gallerists, commercial trends, vanity platforms, and social algorithms—rarely rewards sheer talent, intellectual rigour, or deep sincerity. It frequently rewards networking, self-promotion, and hype. Being “famous” or selling prolifically in that ecosystem can say very little about the actual depth or quality of the work being produced.
Creating for myself—motivated by a genuine need to explore ideas, deal with complex emotions, and wrestle with form and material—is perhaps one of the purest ways to practice art. It can free you from serving trends or appeasing passive consumers.
I can engage with Callas, Puccini, philosophy, and my own life experiences without asking anyone for permission.
My satisfaction comes from the work itself, the dialogic process of building a painting layer by layer, and the quiet resolution when a piece comes together on my own terms.
So let us keep our focus right there: on the work, the ideas, the technique, and the honest conversation around them.
