A fascinating piece. It seems to go against some of the ideas of your previous piece, but the common factors of consistency and dedication to a particular vision remain.
Yes, this article was basically in response to what another substack writer had pointed out around the definition of authenticity. It was subjective, but they raised a good point about artists wanting to 'appear' authentic by pleasing critics. Botero's work proves that one doesn't need to do that. One could argue that he was pandering to the crowd, but that's not the sense I got from his continuing body of work, especially his later, more political work. But yes, the idea of long-term goals and consistency still applies, and Botero did the same thing from age 12 to when he died at 91. He built so much credibility.
I'm impressed by his story. He made a decision at a very young age and stayed with it for his entire career and he seemed to understand the business side too because he did well, and had a gallery named after him.
A fascinating piece. It seems to go against some of the ideas of your previous piece, but the common factors of consistency and dedication to a particular vision remain.
Yes, this article was basically in response to what another substack writer had pointed out around the definition of authenticity. It was subjective, but they raised a good point about artists wanting to 'appear' authentic by pleasing critics. Botero's work proves that one doesn't need to do that. One could argue that he was pandering to the crowd, but that's not the sense I got from his continuing body of work, especially his later, more political work. But yes, the idea of long-term goals and consistency still applies, and Botero did the same thing from age 12 to when he died at 91. He built so much credibility.
I'm impressed by his story. He made a decision at a very young age and stayed with it for his entire career and he seemed to understand the business side too because he did well, and had a gallery named after him.