Do artists desperately need positive feedback?

Some will love, other will not

It will be an eclectic answer from an eclectic person. Art is about self expression, about giving yourself, about letting others see you. It’s amazing if others like it, but it’s not alwys about giving what others need. Sorry guys, I really think so. If ones soul is full of hope and love and admiration of all the beauty of the nature, she cannot change it to seeing things gloomy only because that’s the trend. Or reverse. If one would do so, her art wouldn’t be authentic. Though, it could be more popular. Some artwork will touch some. And the same artwork will never be loved by others. That’s normal. So, do we desperately need positive feedback?

Yet, artist or not, we all need positive feedback. Desperately? I wouldn’t say so. Feedback is normally based on opinions. Opinions can be extremely various. As long as we don’t try to please everyone – which is impossible anyway – we can live our life satisfied with negative opinions and feedback. The key may be the balance. The balance of the negative and the positive feedback.

Is negative feedback bad?

Sometimes even negative feedback can make you better. If it’s honest and not based on being envious, it may show you something you didn’t realise. It can help to make a little change for the better. Maybe the people who love you, would never say anything bad about your work. Even if your work is not really good, they may say it’s amazing. They say that because of love. They want to protect and support you.

Of course, actually we don’t always have to listen to others. We build our life and future. We have to take our time to know ourselves and find our way, our voice. I think the most important thing is to stay loyal to ourselves. When art is only about following the latest trends, it loses its meaning. At least, this is my opinion. You can follow the trends if you can keep your values.

And yet, negative feedback can hurt. Arts usually starts as a hobby and for a lot of people it always remains so. And that’s okay. A lot of people don’t even want to make a living this way. It can be a way to escape from weekdays, to calm down and get rid of stress. Others are trying as a professional and experience how hard it is. Sometimes you may get disappointed. You may feel worthless. Not because you desperately need positive feedback, but because art is always personal. You put yourself into your work. If people say bad opinions, it may feel like refusing you yourself. We all know that we don’t need everyone’s love, but it still can hurt.

When you fail in the mission

You spend a lot of time and energy with creating and generally you fall in love with every piece a bit. Art can make you feel free, happy and relieved. It can help to heal your soul. As a creator for sure. The aim is to bring some of these feelings to the viewers’ life, too. Artists are usually more sensitive anyway. So, bad opinions, even if it is totally all right to hear them, can make you feel that you failed in this mission.

So, do artists desperately need positive feedback?

I still say, no. Because sometimes the greatest art is born when you are feeling down more than ever.