Some excerpts from an article by Robert Genn at The Painter's Keys. Read the entire article at The Painter's Keys.
The self-esteem movement is an epidemic that's been sweeping parts of the Western World--claiming that even young girls need to feel good about themselves before they can do good things. I don't think so. I think you have to do good things to feel good.
It's particularly noticeable in the art game.... Instead of measuring work against examples of excellence, we now honour mediocrity as well. Actually, it's human nature--it makes us feel comfortable, particularly if we're mediocre ourselves. What's going to become of a society that persists in this folly?
True professionals don't stand for this nonsense. For one thing, they don't listen to non-authoritative commentary or ingratiating praise. They try to decide what excellence is, challenge themselves and bend their bones to make it happen. Actually, the whole self-esteem thing leads artists into marketing courses before they're producing creditable work. But just get reasonably good and the world will love and reward you. Stay bad and all the marketing in the world won't help you--and you'll end up thinking less of yourself, anyway.
Quality deserves approval and gets it. Quality breeds success, cash flow and, curiously, genuine self-esteem because it's warranted. And while all artists, no matter how evolved, need a little perk from time to time, when you're on top of your game, you can take things less seriously.
PS: "People thought that kids who felt good about themselves would get higher grades. They don't. They only feel entitled to get them." (Margaret Wente)
Esoterica: "Self-esteem," says cognitive psychologist Martin Seligman, "cannot be directly injected. It needs to result from doing well, from being warranted." Artists need to consider this when awarding and receiving prizes and honours.
