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To the left, a rejection letter from The Museum of Modern Art turning down a piece of Andy Warhol's art.

It happens. Jurors, curators, critics are far from the bottom line and often make mistakes. All emerging artists will get rejected at some point. I just received a rejection email just last week as well as a, quite frankly, vile comment from a gallery owner in SOHO/NYC (who shall remain nameless) earlier this month.

Other famous art 'rejects' include Rothko, Monet, Vemeer, El Greco, Cezanne, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, Gauguin, Sisley, and the list goes on. We live in a fear-based society where often the most innovative, experimental and unique ideas are rejected simply because they are out of the ordinary and simply cannot be comprehended or appreciated by all.

Rejection is part of being an artist. Develop a thick skin and healthy sense of humor and you'll be just fine! Art & Art Deadlines pokes fun at rejection letters by hosting a 'We regret to inform you...' call for rejection letter entries.

Here's a great article about 10 famous artists who were often rejected. Andy Warhol said it best, 'You have to do stuff that average people don't understand because those are the only good things.' 

 


Comments

08/17/2012 10:52am

Having just received a rejection letter from a local gallery, about a show I really had my heart set on doing, it helps to read this. Being an artist is hard, especially if one is thin skinned. It's different from just having your "work" judged as one does in an office job, when you get your yearly evaluations (I've done that too). We put our hearts and souls into our artwork, and when that is judged negatively it is we that are being judged, not how well we accomplished some task. But we keep trudging on:)

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