It's Impossible to Be An Artist

And yet we keep on doing it

The moment when it stopped being a movie about plastic dolls

Lately I’ve been thinking about the Barbie speech. You know, America Ferrera’s “it is literally impossible to be a woman” monologue in the Barbie movie, where she rattles off a massive list of contradictory expectations that women are supposed to fulfil? Because I’ve been trying to level up my art game, and I’ve encountered another version of the same thing. It is basically impossible to be an artist. Let’s consider:

• Your art has to be utterly unique, but it also has to fit into current art trends

• Your artwork can’t be the same all the time, but it also can’t be too different from your earlier work

• You have to promote yourself and your work constantly, but you can’t be a self-promotional machine

• Your website has to look exactly like every other artist’s website, because people don’t like to be confused, but the art has to be completely different, because people want to be surprised

• You have to be laser-focused on making your art, but you also have to be good at writing, editing, photography, graphic design, grant writing, and probably also packing, shipping, framing, lighting, and installation

• If you sell your art directly to customers, galleries won’t want to work with you. But also, if you sell your art through galleries, other galleries won’t want to work with you

• You can’t be too old or too young, too pretty or too ugly, too normal or too weird

• If you have no followers, you’re irrelevant. If you have tons of followers, you’re superficial

• If you’re too rich, you’re a dilettante. If you’re too poor, you’re a failure

And on it goes.

And yet, despite all this, despite all the obstacles, we keep doing it. We keep making art, we keep applying to shows and getting rejected and applying again. We keep writing and posting and networking and making more art. We keep showing the art, and we even sell some of it. We don’t do everything perfectly, and maybe sometimes we don’t even do it very well, but we keep doing it.

And that is Kenough.

Upcoming Events

This Saturday! Artomatic

You might notice that I varied from my regular newsletter schedule this week. That’s because I wanted to let my local DC-area people know that I’ll be at Meet the Artist Night at Artomatic this Saturday, April 13, from 6-8 pm. You can find me, surrounded by the sayings of the Algorithm, in room 5108 on the 5th floor at 2100 M Street NW. You can find more information on the Artomatic website.

If you can’t make it to Artomatic, I’ll be at

Earth Day Every Day - April 21

This will be my second year at the Langston Boulevard Alliance Earth Day festival in Arlington, VA. The festival runs from 11am-5pm in front of the Lee Heights Shops. You can find lots more information on the website.

As always, if you can’t make it to an IRL event, you can shop for science inspired art at my shop.