The tag 'manifestation' has collectively attracted no fewer than 34.6 billion views on Tik Tok to May 2023, asserts Lucas J Dixon and colleagues at the University of Queensland in a new paper in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin first published online July 2023.
‘Manifestation' is the belief that you can attract success in life through positive self-talk and visualisation, and behaving as though you've already achieved your goals according to Emma Young (The Psychologist, August 2023).
So what about in the creative world - what do artists think?
I posed this question to several award-winning artists, and here are some of the responses.
Joe Blundell
Joe's landscape paintings have been a finalist and award winner in Australia's leading landscape prizes including The Hadley’s Art Prize and The Paddington Art Prize.
“My feeling is that you can’t manifest artistic success. Success for most artists is a combination of three things; fulfillment, recognition and sales. The importance of each is obviously very different for each artist, but I believe you can’t achieve any of these unless the art is “right”. So success starts with getting the work right and that’s about the relationship between painter and painting - not something that I believe can be manifested. It’s rarely about an artist simply believing they are great, on the contrary, it’s more often a dedication to self examination and self criticism that drives really good work”
Jenny Aitken
Jenny has exhibited nationally and internationally and won many awards. She was elected a full member of the RSMA in 2023, and won the prestigious Baltic Exchange Award in the same year.
“I don't like the idea that you can somehow fail if you don't manifest enough, or believe enough. I DO think that positive self talk - and support from those we love, can go a long way - as equally the opposite can prevent us even trying. Feeling confident and encouraged is key towards development of skill, as much as anything.
My personal philosophy is to work wisely at what I do, towards mid and long term goals. I push myself, but with an awareness of my current skills and knowledge. I don't expect or feel I deserve these eventualities - but I try very hard for them. I am constantly trying to get better as a painter, and consequently as a teacher - and that's the core of my journey. How do I manifest dreams? Knowing them, knowing what they require, then working towards them.”
Gail Reid
Gail was a semi-finalist on the popular TV show Sky Arts “Portrait Artist Of The Year 2023", and a TEDx speaker "Body Image Through The Eyes Of An Artist”
Manifestation has, to my mind, a small role to play in the realisation of any goal, not just artistic.
Much more important for artistic success is 'doing the work'. Because... that's the point of being an artist. The infinite journey. Getting your head down, but also putting your head up above the parapet to find your path. And letting your voice evolve.
As well as the creative process, doing the work includes:
Finding/making platforms to show evidence of what you do
Finding stepping stones to how you eventually want to work. Eg in my case doing Soft Toy Portraits. I learned about commissions, marketing, selling online, and effectively monetised my drawing practice
Building a mutually supportive network.
Developing a philosophy/understanding of where you 'sit' in the contemporary/historic canon
Seeking out opportunities.
That all helps make you able to recognise, and take, good luck/opportunities that arise. But it helps to reconcile yourself with the possibility that the luck/opportunity may strike tomorrow, or years after your death. Opportunities may come with a fanfare, or they may quietly exist in full view, waiting to be seen. So in terms of manifesting, I DO visualise work going well - if I'm giving a talk, demo, or starting a challenging painting, I find it helps to get on top of those demons by running through positive scenarios in my imagination. But 'success' isn't something I chase. Like 'voice', I prefer to let it evolve.”
Felicity Starr
Winner of the People’s Prize Holly Bush Painting Prize 2022, member of the RBSA
Big question! And what even is success?
To me, success is feeling good about achieving my goals, dreams and desires.
To even come close to achieving my goals I need to understand what they are and make a plan to achieve them... Therefore, if manifesting is a mix of internal drive with desire and visualisation, manifesting is another term for planning. And my goodness me, I love to plan!!!
Why do I love to plan? It helps me see what I want and how to achieve it, allows me to focus and get it done (which is basically paint with emotion and progression)... And although my plans don’t always come to fruition, because I’ll paint some bad paintings, get rejections, and feel bad. But, I pick myself up, learn from my mistakes, pivot and go again. Manifesting is especially powerful because it isn’t static; as you pivot, adjust, and reimagine your plans, you keep your vision alive, allowing it to grow and evolve alongside you.
So yes I plan, or manifest, and believe you can manifest artistic success.”
Roger Dellar
ROI, RI, PS, RSMA member, multiple award winner
“My approach is one of questioning all I do periodically, with little idea what my goals are. Maybe there are long term targets but they are quite distant. I go through my painting life exploring and challenging myself, and when I think I have been able to do whatever (it is) I then keep what is relevant and discard (what’s) worthless.”
What’s clear in reading these artist’s opinions is that positive self-talk and visualisation is only one facet of garnering success. Goal setting, identifying the steps to get where you want to go, and/or resiliently putting in the work to get there is really what counts.
Interestingly, none of the artists above speak to the part of the definition of manifesting that refers to “behaving as though you have already achieved your goals”.
I saw an artist’s post on Instagram where someone commented “Fake it till you make it”. It made me consider how common this phenomenon might be (I’m not talking actual fraud here; where someone deliberately misrepresents the truth for financial gain.)
What degree do artists choose to, or are forced by, a competitive arena or biased social media algorithm, to appear more confident than they are, to get others to believe in them? Whether this is to make work appear a more worthy investment to potential customers, a viable risk to a gallery, to get more “likes” or “hits” or just to drag themselves along during a spell of low confidence.
According to the definition above, this is a form of manifestation - Behaving as though those goals are already achieved. Hoping that success will become a reality through "talking the talk" and "walking the walk”.
On the flip-side, there's "Imposter Syndrome” threatening to consume artists with anxiety about secretly not being good enough, worrying that they will be found out…and it is my view that these two mental states can co-exist.
“Some experts point out that the more you learn, the more you realize you have yet to learn. Impostor syndrome is, for many people, a natural symptom of gaining expertise” according to journalist Anne Friedman of The Pacific Standard.
So where’s the sweet spot, in such a subjective profession as the creative industries? Here are some of my suggestions...
1. Define your own view of what being successful looks like to YOU.
That might be painting a great bald-headed man (those skull shapes are damn hard!) or being president of a Royal society. It might be selection into a juried competition by artists you admire, going down in the annals of history, or funding a lavish lifestyle.
2. Set goals, (begin with the SMART goal-setting concept and adapt as necessary) and review them periodically.
3. Balance authenticity, with self-promotion. Be you!
If your success criteria involves more than your own personal artistic goals, chances are you will have to make friends (or at least tolerated acquaintances) with social media, networking and marketing strategies.
4. Recognise that any artist worth their salt probably experiences self-doubt from time to time, especially if their definition of success is based on external factors that they cannot control, like the financial climate.
5. Compare yourself with just yourself. Look back on older work to see your own development. Speak to yourself how you’d speak to another…you wouldn’t dream of putting someone else down, so lift yourself up. Make “Yet” part of your everyday language.
Above all - keep going, keep going, keep going...
Please share your thoughts on this subject by dropping a comment below.
can you manifest artistic success?
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