Are Artists Natural Born Con Artists?

Consider this: According to Ian Leslie, “there is a gushing river of verbal creativity in the normal human mind, from which both artistic invention and lying are drawn. We are born storytellers, spinning narrative out of our experience and imagination, straining against the leash that keeps us tethered to reality.”

As artists and artisans we imagine, we invent, we reinterpret reality. We inarguably use the same skill set as cons. Evidence of the intermarriage of art and con can be found in numerous Etsy shops, and as we are encouraged to tell colorful anecdotes about ourselves to capture buyers, you have to wonder how many profiles are true vs. intentional fabrications.

In my observation, there are two distinctly different paths into the arts, two separate motivations. One is primarily driven by the need for praise, for an audience, for money and status, for beating out one’s competition. The other is a path traveled by those who have discovered the joy of mastery and discovery. Artisans Gallery Team was conceived as an alliance of the latter. When we are functioning at our highest and best, we are able to praise and promote the new works of other artisans because we take joy in discovery whether it is from others’ or our own.

One way to spot a con is that every story they tell glorifies themselves, often denigrating others in the process. Whereas an artist on the second path tells a universal story that reaches for insight, using personal facts as illustrations.  When we vet and jury for this team we are looking for that type of commitment to authenticity.

editorial by Lee Wolfe