The Power of Context

Stories in art marketing are important, and context is a powerful story

In the book The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell, one of Gladwell's observations is that humans act very differently toward the same inputs in different situations.  In other words, context matters.   

Here's a dramatic example of how context matters:  Many years ago an experiment was staged with world-class violinist, Joshua Bell, who, fresh from a performance at the Library of Congress with the Boston Symphony, panhandled for free during the morning rush at a Washington Metro station. Of the thousand-odd passersby, only a few stopped, or even paused, to listen.

What happens when we take one of the world's finest musicians, who normally makes over $1,000 per minute and put him in the "wrong" context of a subway panhandler?  The masses simply see him as a panhandler.  They don't recognize the artistic gift for what it truly is.  Because it's in the wrong context. 

Joshua Bell, virtuoso, performing in the subway and in concert

Click here to watch the video of Joshua Bell’s subway performance

The "right" or "wrong" context is just a type of story. And stories matter.  Even the stories we tell ourselves about virtuosos and panhandlers.

The Context Creates Deep Meaning

“Imagine a flower in an open meadow. Now take the same flower and slip it into the barrel of a rifle. Or place it on a gravestone. Notice in each case how you feel. The significance changes. In new surroundings, the same object can take on considerably different meanings. The context changes the content.”  - Rick Rubin

The context creates meaning.  Context is the alchemy that turns the mundane into the magical.  It is the point.  

“Context matters. It’s the invisible thread that weaves significance into the mundane and makes the ordinary become extraordinary. It’s where you should spend time understanding why the thing being presented to you is there, who created it and how. It’s important to know not just for researching a product purchase, but to understand the world more deeply and on a level that creates meaning.” - Adam Singer

Context is one major reason that AI art will never replace human-made fine art.  AI art is devoid of context and, because of that, it’s devoid of the stories that provide the human-level resonance that creates interest, engagement and meaning.  The arts - visual art, music, literature and more - exist to transmit inspiration and energy across space and time from the artist to other humans, and, as such, they particularly rely upon context to  fill them with meaning.  You don’t even need AI to realize this.  Just consider that a piano player is far more intriguing than a player piano.  Universal stories and myths, after all, are intrinsic to the human experience.

So, with that in mind, what we actually mean when we say “the story” of your art is an amalgamation of many different kinds of  “stories”, both verbal and nonverbal, that define the brand, or the vibe around your art.  Context, for example, is a kind of story.  The “story” of an exhibit can be changed quite dramatically just by changing the context.  The same pieces hanging in your studio vs. hanging at an art fair vs. hanging in a restaurant vs. hanging in a gallery vs. hanging in a museum tell quite different “stories.”  Context is a kind of non-verbal story, and stories are a kind of verbal context.

Furthermore, each collector has their own “story” which can drive interest in specific artworks.  

As one collector told us, “I buy paintings that move me, and remind me of important events in my life.  The artist undoubtedly has a story, and it may reinforce my story, but I buy the art that reflects my story."  

There is no doubt that art is a “social object” and, for most people, some element of story is important - both the story about the artist, or the story about the artwork combined with the story the person tells themself about the art.  When buying art, people consider what owning the piece says about themselves.

In short, the more compelling your stories, the easier selling your art will be.

If people were logical, the stories wouldn’t matter.  But people aren’t logical, they are psycho-logical.  And the stories we tell people affect their perception of the products they buy. 

“We don’t value things; we value their meaning. What they are is determined by the laws of physics, but what they mean is determined by the laws of psychology.” - Rory Southerland

You’ve probably heard in more than one place that people enjoy wine more when they’re told it’s expensive (even if it’s not true).  What people believe about a product or experience shapes their enjoyment of the product or experience.  As I like to say, what you think is what you get, so help people to think the things you want them to about your art.

Here’s what psychology professor Paul Bloom says about that subject:

Well, our response to forgeries is a huge puzzle. You might think that the pleasure you get from a painting depends on its color and its shape and its pattern, what it looks like. And if that's right, then it shouldn't matter whether it's an original or a forgery, it shouldn't matter at all who created it. But the mind doesn't work that way. It matters to all of us.

In my own work I find, even for young children, it matters where the painting came from, who made it. And I think that tells us something interesting about what we like. I think it suggests that when it comes to a pleasure like the pleasure we get from paintings, we're exquisitely sensitive to their origin, to who made it, to how it was made. [source]

In other words - the story matters.

If you tell the right stories however, not only will you sell more art, you can increase the value of your art.

From Austin Kleon’s, Show Your Work:

"In their book, Significant Objects, Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker recount an experiment in which they set out to test this hypothesis: “Stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their effect on any given object’s subjective value can actually be measured objectively.” First, they went out to thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales and bought a bunch of “insignificant” objects for an average of $1.25 an object. Then, they hired a bunch of writers, both famous and not-so-famous, to invent a story “that attributed significance” to each object. Finally, they listed each object on eBay, using the invented stories as the object’s description, and whatever they had originally paid for the object as the auction’s starting price. By the end of the experiment, they had sold $128.74 worth of trinkets for $3,612.51." 

Now, let’s get to telling your story.

One thing that pervades all of the following discussion of stories, which will come in future updates, and your art itself for that matter is that the more truthful you are, the more vulnerable you are, the more raw and human you are in your stories the more people will respond.  Don’t try to hide behind a cold veneer of “professionalism.”  That’s for accountants, not artists.  Tell your deepest darkest truths, fears, pains.  The more you bleed onto the page and onto your canvas, the more fans and supporters you will draw into your orbit.  But you must do this authentically, not as a tactic.  The more human you are, especially in a world with AI, the more other humans will be drawn to you.

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❤️ FASO LOVES Carla Paine’s oil paintings!

Woman in a Blush Rose Dress, Oil, 36x26, Carla Paine

See More of Carla Paine’s art by clicking here.

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