[Dixielandjazz] Art and/or Commercial Product

[Steve Barbone]

"Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis" wrote (polite snip)
 
> What it boils down to is the question is it art or is it commercial and can
> it be both?
 
> I happen to be a commercial artist. (snip)

You answered your own question. IMO it certainly can be both. The basic
definition of Art in most dictionaries is something like:

1) human ability to make things; creativity of man as distinguished from the
world of nature. (Webster's New World College Dictionary, 3rd Edition

Examples of "art" given include painting, sculpture, architecture, music,
literature, drama, the dance etc.

Usual additions are the liberal arts (literature, music, philosophy etc.,)
as distinguished from the sciences. And the pictorial and decorative
material accompanying the text in a newspaper, magazine or advertising
layout. And any specific skill or its application e.g. the art of making
friends, the physician's art, the cobbler's art, or the art of making the
deal, etc.

Ergo, IMO, you commercial or not, are an artist. And musicians, in the
broadest sense, are artists, whether or not they innovate.

Perhaps we get confused about what is artistic music or not. Heck, IMO its
all artistic. Just that some is better than others. What confuses us
further, IMO, is that we as individuals, often think we know with utmost
certainty which is which. And we have no hesitancy declaring what "the
truth" is as far as art music is concerned, because "we" are the decider.
Right . . . us and several billion other people in the world.

Examples of our errors in that regard abound. Van Gogh readily comes to
mind. Sold one painting during his lifetime for 400 francs. The talking art
heads of his era laughed at his work declaring it awful. Yet today, you
can't buy one of his paintings for less than $50,000,000 and his "art" is
praised as genius and sought after by museums.

What to do? Ignore the critics, "knowledgeable" or not, because they'll
always be around you, they will often be wrong and you will always find an
audience for your art if you make the effort.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone