5 Reasons You’re Still Artless

Still don’t have art in your home? Here are five reasons why.

First of all, it’s not made easy, so don’t feel too judged by that headline.

If finding art feels really challenging to you, it’s because it is challenging. It is such an overwhelming market. There’s so much of it and so little guidance. So, it’s tough. It’s tough at any price point. It takes hours and hours and hours of your life to sift through a ton of art, most of which you will not like, to find a piece you resonate with.

1.You still believe art is too expensive.

It’s not. I mean if you are barely able to buy groceries spending $20 on a piece of art is not feasible or advised. But if you're financially stable you can find pieces at any budget. It does not need to cost tens of thousands of dollars. Or even thousands.

I tell people this all the time and they are shocked but most of my clients have a total budget of under $1000. For the art and my services. I also have a newsletter that is strictly art under $400. And I find amazing prints all the time for under $50. Yes, there million dollar pieces. But there are also bottles of wine for $300K and you can still get a good one for $15. So.

2. You feel way too intimidated by the prospect of looking for, deciding on and then living with art.

I feel for you. The art world is extremely intimidating and elitist and has a huge barrier to entry. I have a ton of free educational content on how to navigate it to help address this exact problem which you can check out here or on my instagram.

There are lots of books you can read and podcast you can listen to if you’d rather go that route. I wish this one was easier, but if don’t want to be intimidated any longer you really do have to either do the work of self-educating, or hire someone to guide you in.

Be courageous and know that there are really wonderful, healing, lovely places to explore art once you get past those gatekeepers and find your people.

3. You still claim you’re one of those people that just doesn’t “get” art.

I wonder when that trend got started. There is nothing to “get” about art. Appreciating and understanding art is just about being human. Interpretation is completely subjective to the interpreter.

Art is about the experience of life, of humanity. So anyone with the capacity to feel can get art. You might not be able to speak academically or historically about art, but honestly who cares. You might not have a precise understanding of technique, but again, what difference does that make. You get art. If you are alive, you get art.

You might be closed off to the experience of art. You might be uncomfortable with art. But there is nothing lacking in you, you just probably haven’t been given the proper initiation into appreciating art. Which sucks, but can be remedied.

4. You haven’t really experienced the benefits of living with art.

Oh this one pains me.

So many people have no idea how profound living with art can be. If you have never had a relationship with art as a whole, or any single piece of art, of course you haven’t prioritized it in your home. What’s unfortunate about this one is you really need to make the decision to expose yourself to art and develop an eye for it to be convinced of its benefits.

My word, and the word of psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists alone won’t likely convince you. But once you do make that decision, you’ll find that art is absolutely everywhere, and if you are open to being moved by it, I have a strong suspicion you’ll fall in love with a piece somewhere out in the world. And hopefully that will put you on a journey of buying art for your own space to deepen your capacity for a meaningful life.

5. You don’t know what you like in art.

This is so common.

If you are like most adults you’ve never really been given the opportunity to explore what you like in art. No one has asked thoughtful questions about your tastes or had a discussion with you about the variety and multiplicity that is found in art.

Maybe you have some sense of your preferences, or you definitely know what you do not like, but don’t have the language to articulate why, or what specifically speaks to you or doesn’t. This is completely reasonable. The good news here is that these are literally just tools and practices and exposure and anyone with the will to learn more about themselves can learn these skills!

I invite you to take the first step and fill out an application to work with me.