Art blog gaga No.03
Blog entry | 02 dec | 2020
Where the rubber meets the road!
Earlier this year I began entering fun + small design competitions here and there for 2 reasons:
1] To further hone the “method to my madness” from my artistic POV,
AND
2] To get used to rejection.
Sounds a bit unconventional? Totally. But having excelled at everything I ever did during my years in a corporate design environment, I grew a bit accustomed to “getting what I wanted”, sort of speak. No denying that it all came from lots of blood, sweat, and tears, but nonetheless, felt pretty confident at my skills.
My “like, WTF?” moment came shortly after submitting a concept to the first design competition. Reality set in rather quickly after receiving the “thanks, but no thanks” email response. Surprised by the rejection, I felt a little stung. After so many years of being pretty good at what I did, to all of a sudden not being good enough at something. Despite the bruised ego, I forced myself to meditate on it, learned from the experience, and kept going.
Blog entry | 02 dec | 2020
I have since entered a few other design competitions whenever time allowed me, and to no surprise, received more rejections. The funny part of it all – I learned to retrain my mind into automatically assuming I will likely be rejected which is oddly enough, quite refreshing. Sounds crazy, but it works. My inner ego has stopped filling my mind with “Oooh, that’s not good. You really suck at that. What will your counterparts think of you?”. I now quietly chuckle, remind myself that “my counterparts” are a figment of my imagination. This new skill has also come in handy as I continue to look for my next opportunity outside of my passion project, which I have found to be a super helpful. It wasn’t until very recent that I realized there is no one else out there who believes in me, more so than me.
Now here comes the better part to all this.
With a slice of humility pie stuffed in my mouth still, I decided to take the next step and apply to an art fair. Now mind you, I discovered Superfine! Art Fair when they first launched at Art Basel Miami 2015. I really liked what they were doing, and the vibe was cool. It was so inspiring, yet so unattainable. Somehow, I had convinced myself of that, at the time.
With no prior experience to how it all works, this was a pivotal moment for me because I felt I was finally mentally prepared to be rejected by an Art Fair. So out on a whim, I submitted a request to determine if I would “pre-qualify” for the upcoming Seattle event, scheduled for August 2021. 30 seconds later, “click”. Request submitted. All the while, I kept thinking of James Altucher and all his previous failed attempts, and how I would gracefully accept the rejection email, and continue about my merry way.
A few days go by, I think nothing of it. But oh wait, there’s the email reply. And to my disbelief, I come to find out I am an “excellent candidate” for the event…?! After a short phone chat and a few email exchanges with James Miille, Managing Partner of Superfine! Art Fair and team, I am super excited to announce I will be officially participating on my first public facing debut! Having only been on the attendee side of things years past, I can hardly wait to experience it from the artist’s perspective!
I guess this is really where rubber meets the road! And the moral to my story? Bid “Adieu” to your ego, embrace rejection, be patient, persist, meditate, and believe in yourself more because when the universe closes a door, there is always another door or window that will open elsewhere.
xoxoxo
PS: Don’t forget to follow me @mundodaromi