"My strongest message yet... If you’re an artist, understand this"
The Instagram post that shone a light on a world of pain, and finally named the movement which has destroyed so many creatives' spirits
“I was fed a sponsored post this morning that made me furious… I name no names but it was selling mailing lists for galleries and curators, titled something like ‘how to make it in the art world ‘ etc etc… preaching that ‘consistency’ is the key…
This sh*t is literally killing artist’s deep creative spirts and only skewing artists perceptions of their greater purpose, meaning, existence… and only holding them in the shallows…
It’s time to start calling this absolute BS out for what it is and helping people see through such illusory nonsense. Art is a process of deep exploration, NOT a product, commodity or asset. Don’t become a cookie cutter!”
I could go on… I will go on… I’ve worked in and around the so-called Art World since the late ’90s. I studied it through the ’90s, even branded as one of the next Brit-Art graduates, and carried on into the 2000s and 2010s—working, evolving, and shape-shifting deep within its inner sanctum.
Looking back, without a solid ‘movement’ to anchor ourselves to, the Art Industry became a form of surrogate movement for us. A global, high-ticket ecosystem of free beer, endless openings, curatorial posturing, fairs galore, canapés, German limousines, Swiss banks, publishers, fabricators, handlers, buyers, unicorn collectors, celebrity appearances, chancers—the list goes on. But at its core, the unsaid mystical forces of commercial investments and record-breaking auctions led to the commoditisation of everything. A private penthouse party of high-ticket activities at the very top, trickling all the way down through gallerists, museums, arts councils, more curators, and eventually to artists and art schools—churning out an endless supply of wide-eyed graduates into the system.
The common thread? The one thing that binds this industry together? The ingrained cultural indoctrination that artists exist to make things—to feed the system. Objects, assets, tangibles, editions, products. Ultimately, in real terms: commodities.
Fast forward to 2025, and the stark reality is arguably more horrific than imagined. Along with the profound beauty of digital technology—its magical, instantaneous global connectivity, the rapturous and sudden collective ‘sharing of notes’—comes something else. A growing realization, made vivid through imagery, braver posts, comments, stories: the illusion that the artist’s purpose is simply to make stuff to sell. A global epidemic of delusion. A heartbreaking misguidance.
A global epidemic of delusion and heartbreaking miss-guidance
“Artists, creatives, art school grads… Art is not about creating commodities; it’s a process and a journey of deep exploration… The commoditisation of the art world over the last 3-4 decades has distorted everything. We’ve been sold the illusion that art = finished products for sale. But art is a profound process of personal exploration. Galleries, markets and fairs need ROI to survive—so they’ve reshaped art into a business of objects. But art is not an object. It is a journey.
When we’re forced to ‘produce’ instead of explore, we become processors. Intuition fades. Deep creativity shrinks. Rebellion dies. This is how 99% of creatives lose their superpowers. Creativity was never given to us. It’s our instinctive superpower. Yet, culture and industry will always try to squeeze it into a product. It’s a movement I think of as ‘Commercialism’... Because we are living in an era where everything is being commodified: Attention. Earth. Soul. Intelligence. Creativity. And creatives? We are being trained to create ‘products’ rather than think. But here’s the truth…
Creativity is not a product. It is the most profound and priceless asset that we have. Nurture it. Guard it. Protect it. Because failure to do so will also crush the next generation’s creative integrity. They will need their deepest creativity more than any who have ever lived. Because the world is riddled with complex challenges—problems that need the deepest thinking.
More bureaucracy, politics, and empty consumption will not save anything... But creative people will. Creatives!!! Recognise your immense power. Understand it and nurture it. Treat it as if it were your kids. Because the future depends on it.”
For some time, I’ve been observing this phenomenon from a distance—seeing it as precisely the movement, the solid handle, that we graduates of the ’90s were grappling for as we wrestled our way out into the ‘real world.’ I’ve remained relatively tight-lipped, fearing backlash… But now, it has become beautifully clear: the last few decades have been defined by, and will be recorded as, the Commercialism period. A time when all were ultimately—and fundamentally, subconsciously—guided by an unspoken mass movement of metrication and commoditisation disguised as something more meaningful, sacred, and intrinsic to ‘culture.’
There’s much more to unpack here… but for now, I leave you with this thought:
Was our deepest, most extraordinary, mysterious, and profound asset—our imagination—best utilised over the past decades to feed a pyramidal industry that the majority of the planet cannot understand or access? Or is it time to refocus, to empower our ‘creatives’ to envision more meaningful outcomes that create real change where it’s truly needed?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and where you’d like me to take this next.
xR
P.S. I urge you to take a look at the comments section in the post.
Thanks for reading _DeepCreativity!
As I learn and explore these topics, all work remains in process—never finished or polished. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, find me on other channels or grab on of my FREE ebooks👇.
xR
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