Feeling worthless?

Recently, I had a conversation with some other artists about giving and receiving feedback. I noticed that this is such a sensitive topic!

It is interesting, isn’t it, that among artists, when engaging with art — whether their own or that of others — there is a marked lack of words. Often, the words are simply missing, or people are afraid of choosing the wrong ones and prefer to say nothing at all.

As an art historian, one is completely unfamiliar with this kind of speechlessness. An art historian wants to say as much as possible about art, as often as possible.

As an artist, I believe that the way you treat yourself and deal with self-criticism plays an important role. For example, you can ask yourself whether you would give another artist the same feedback you give yourself. I am happy to say that I mostly had received such encouraging and attentive comments on my work that it was very important to me to ensure that the feedback I give to others is of the same high quality.

And finally, I hope that, through this blog, I can at least overcome the speechlessness that sometimes overwhelms my artistic self (as opposed to my art historian self...).