Leave the Audience at the Door

Never play to the gallery. Never work for other people in what you do. Always remember that the reason you initially started working was there was something inside yourself that, if you could manifest it, you felt you would understand more about yourself. I think it’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations. -- David Bowie

In my recent interview with Sally Hirst, we talked about this very thing. Sally calls it "leaving the audience at the door."It's that state where you are painting just for yourself, with no thought of your mother/spouse/gallery/collectors/Instagram followers. In this state, you are free to try anything, to express anything, to follow any idea.It sounds easy, but we all know it is not. We have had a lifetime of hearing others' judgment of our work, whether it be friends and family or professionals gallerists and exhibition jurors. It's natural to pick up all that stuff that's been said in the past and carry it with you into your work space. You can hear all those voices buzzing round in your head as you start to paint and it becomes very hard to tune them out.But tune them out we must, because Bowie was right. The minute we start playing to an audience, we lose our own authenticity and as artists that is literally all we have to offer.And there's another point to be made here: the audience you imagine is exactly that - imaginary. That audience is your projection. You do not actually know what the real people would say about that brush stroke you just made, because they're not there to tell you. So anything you hear is a projection of your own doubts and fears. It can't be anything else.Once you realize that, it's a little easier to leave all those imagined people at the door and just dig deep into whatever it is that interests you. If you think about it, that's the only way to ever be successful as an artist because it's the only way to say something original.Do you have any strategies for leaving the audience at the door? Any tips or tricks that might help someone else?