# do artists have to explain their works in long hand that is: why does placing lengthy textual descriptions next to a work matter a project manager from wimbledom replies: if researchers want to follow the romantic idea of creating art for art's sake and ir one of those big scientists who don't need to make a living as artists and have unlimited storage space then one doesn't have to explain anything but in the ordinary world to have an outlet for art it's essential to have someone to represent one this is in order to continue to work without the hassle of selling it or finding a place to store it this means getting into the gallery system as efficiently as possible this means describing work clearly in the form of an signed official essay marked out of ten by experts so the gallery can determine whether it has a potential appreciative purchasing audience there's also the need to first look at who a gallery is representing and determine whether associating with its other artists works for or against one's own interests it's not necessary to explain every individual work but one does need to know what one's doing and be able to talk about it iags: in a general sense when in class with individual pieces on the wall facing critique one is made to explain oneself as a direct path toward cultivating the ability to represent oneself financially in the global art market among experts with monocles once out itrw: in the real world interacting with potential customers viewing one's work one must accept they have ir own perceptions ha ha in fact a good measure of success is whether ir perceptions are in line with one's intent this however can be a tricky path if one don't have strong killer financial artist instincts in order to successfully transition from (say) terminally bored sociomedia student in the post-industrial north to an internationally known and respected digital artist it is essential to accept some harsh truths about commerce elf expression isn't going to feed anyone unless they connect with others in global art finance who directly and instantly relate to what's being expressed not only that but if it sounds reasonable acceptable accessible and within clearly set social limits of common sense thing is one's feelings aren't important unless they can make the gallery profit and present buyers with positive long term investment opportunities sure while one can find ir own style being able to articulate what a work is as well as what one's values are is more important; it comes down to cultivating a strong sense of marketable elf without this one's art can be too easily misinterpreted as financially nonviable which savvy collectors notice thereby devaluing one's efforts take time to study the thoughts of celebrated successful mainstream artists and see that in spite of some odd personal foibles most have a strong sense of marketability once having chosen a clear narrative for one's creative output it's easier to see when twists in the road are coming - say when the colour greige is trending again if one has a strong ability to clearly state what one is doing artistically the ability to shift one's artistic approach to the needs of the market becomes elf evident - that is simply paint more greige stuff when necessary to make hard choices based on knowing one's art thereby helping the market can get one far in life scowling researcher henry swanson spits: dear project manager if one can andor must fully communicate with text a perfectly clear transparent and understandable artist intent why not simply forget art altogether and just be an artful copywriter copy or sales copy being the act occupation or calling of typing out text for the purpose of advertising or marketing aimed at selling products or services written styrofoam packing peanut 'content' aiming to increase brand awareness and persuade people or groups to take a particular financial action it's not just that art is utterly baffling to artless middling managers but rather the baffling impenetrability too see nothing in life as anything more than dead sellable objects it's not that artists wilfully cultivate an obscure persona and systematically opaque deliberately abstruse obstinate confusing bewildering mystifying perplexing art of unfathomable painfully enigmatic incomprehensibility but rather what's perfectly impenetrable to such wilfully limited capitalist imaginations is the cultivated inability to think a single inch outside the financial(tm) context such a pathological fear of the ineffable and incompletable betrays one's witless answer as that exuding from the back end of a morbid bean counting worm crawling across an actuarial table of artists dying of existential hunger and terminal boredom as a result of being in the tiresome presence of the wilted and spiritless // republic of bob