Edit: Added some more quotation for further context. All bolding in the quotes is mine.
I think you're in general agreement, and I agree also.
I just wanted to highlight the one point in the thread that does appear to have been lost.
If an artist pursues a vision I don't enjoy, I don't devote attention to that artist anymore, or at least not the work that isn't my thing. I might tell them "your new direction isn't for me" but that is followed with "but thanks for all the art you've created." I don't expect their work to conform to my expectations unless I am commissioning a piece.
Now here is the thing about "artists" - you pretty much hit the nail on the head without actually pointing out the issue here yet making it out as a something positive.
The absolute narcissism when an artist says they don't need to conform to others expectations.
An artist does not need to conform to anything/anyone, really (unless of course they were paid for a well-defined piece of art according to certain parameters). This has nothing to do with narcissism.
I thought I had put it rather plainly
...
Art needs to connect to their audience at some level or else everything else is lost <- this is what seems to be overlooked
I think it was indeed put plainly, but here is what I think is the source of confusion in spite of agreement in most respects.
Saying that "artists need an audience" is manifestly not equivalent to saying that "artists must conform to expectations." They are two very different statements.
The first I can get behind.
The second, however, is patently incorrect. Many artists have found an audience in spite of failing to conform to expectations. Many artists have found an audience
because they failed to conform to expectations.
I can't agree that has anything to do with narcissism.
Arrogance, maybe. Maybe. I personally think that you need a touch of arrogance to be an artist. To put a bit of yourself into a creation and then put it out there to inevitably be torn to shreds by people who don't comprehend the drive to create. It takes courage, and for that reason alone I don't have much time for people who feel it necessary to tell an artist they should be doing something else. Criticise if you will, that is your prerogative. However,
the artist is not obliged to conform to your expectations.P.S. One more edit:
We honestly seem to agree on all the rest anyway, your latest post is much clearer to me in that sense. Your previous one I interpreted as expecting artists to conform to expectations. I see now that that's not what you meant.
I'm not so sure. Hence my post.