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RE: [ART / PSYCHOLOGY] My Life As a Self-Critical Artist
I know most of the Copenhagen art scene and the problems you describe are not uncommon at all. There are those who have had no artist in the family, no art, no books, but there are at least as many who did, and too much encouragement is just as hard to overcome as working class minority complexes it seems.
I had an artist in the family, but it was the alcohol abuse and suicide kind of story, so when I began my career it was on the ashes of something horrible.
I've been in the fine art department since I was twenty, but now now I am actually enjoying myself doing this pulp comic project under a pseudonym. Anonymity can be a very liberating thing...
Indeed, the pressure from having successful artists in the family and a lot of expectations has been quite overbearing, and has skewed the starting point from being a natural self-expression to something outside of myself. I will have to 'redefine' and 'purify' the starting point basically. Ah, man, alcohol abuse and suicide. Have plenty of such cases in my extended family as well. Glad to hear you've found your niche and that you're enjoying it.
I always was bad at keeping to one thing, so trying to do all the despicable things like pin-up or comics was not a large jump. I remember reading a posts about a conservative approach to aesthetics and art in general. It was very interesting. Considering that these days the predominant movement in culture and politics is conservative the current art scene seems so terribly out of touch. That was one of the reasons I left actually - the art scnene is as reactionary as the Parisian Salon in the late nineteenth century.