If art stands as a voice it needs to be an authentic voice. When a viewer looks at my work I am realising that I need to be showing them what the world looks like through my eyes. If I paint certain subject matter or in a certain way because it is the trend of the time or sells well then I have come to the conclusion that I am not only short changing myself but also the viewer who will see more of the world from an unadulterated authentic view. I make endless enquiries into great art, wanting to be able to paint like this or that, but in all my gazing I have seen that the ones that get my attention are by artists that paint in truth, revealing something about the artists' identity and the way they view the world. Van Gogh painted the cypress trees with a swirling brush movement and wandered why no one else had noticed their swirling movement and painted them like that.
He was not popular in his time. the question is 'was he successful?' I believe he was successful, even in his time without looking at it from where we stand now. His paintings give us a truth about what captured him, what drove him to return to the next painting. It wasn't a gallery dictating what he should paint or a rich patron yielding a money incentive. He wasn't being carried along to do more of the same by vast popularity, but he did have a drive of an internal expression needing to be expressed, and we are all the richer because of it. We benefit from seeing his view of the world. This, I believe is success.
