value

what determines art value? how do i let it be known that my work has value? i mean real dollar value. people can theorize all day about the role of the artist is to..............blah, blah, yeah. how does that become something that people are wanting to part with their hard earned money for? what is better about paying me for something they can't buy somewhere else?
this is what i am determined to figure out. i've got new work, i'm not going to post it yet. right now i want to know what it does for someone else to see it. why do you care? what's it worth to you?

answers would be greatly appreciated. i've been confronted with so much talk lately about "our bad economy", "art is a luxury", "need to do something more practical." i'm not going for it. everything i make creatively is proof that it's not a luxury for me. i don't do it just for myself. i want to share my living moments with others. the times when i'm not shut down, or scared of the future, or stuck trying to make somebody else money for a measly portion of their profit per hour. these works are pure. they are done as a direct result of my being free and alive in this studio apartment, in this town, on this day, in this country. instead of any other activity that i could have chosen to do, i made something. it, as well as all of my other work, is available for a fair price.

i buy music, and i buy flowers these days. they are worth it to me. they improve the quality of my life temporarily, they make the rooms where i spend my time better. they help me to feel alive and inspired. i wouldn't give them up for any economy. if i didn't have so much of my own work around, i would have to buy something to go on the walls. i would not be satisfied with some generic stuff just to take up space. that's me. i know other people are the same way, just look at all the great t-shirts available, and seen walking around every town. people like to express their individuality in cool ways. i want to sell those people something to hang on their walls that will make them feel better about their lives. i know how corny that may sound. the truth is like that.

this is like a muppet experience i try and sell myself

This is one of my more recent works. It's rediculous. I like it. Ths message snuck up on me, and has been near impossible for me to shake. "We all fit". Why does my mind disagree? Somedays all day I seem to be trying to convince myself that everything is exactly as it is supposed to be. Everyone is doing exactly what they are supposed to. It seems like this should be obvious. Still I can sell myself on the idea that if somebody else did something different than what they are currently doing I would be happy, or at least more at ease. I turn this beast on myself more than anybody else. If I were somewhere else, doing something other than what I am doing right now I'll tell myself that then, under those circumstances I'd feel better.

The truth seems to me that if I can not accept myself right now under the present circumstances, then I probably won't have any more success accepting some alternate version of myself living under different circumstances. Same goes for my comfort levels with other people. We all are sharing this planet, town, room, parking lot, road, whatever.......All versions of these experiences are real. I live with them. If I can find peace with that right now, here, I feel that I might be OK.