What does art validation actually mean, and why is it important?

True validation means strangers have purchased your work with real money. It’s not validation when family and friends tell you your art is great, when you get into a juried show, or when someone says you have talent. The only entity that can validate your art is the market—people who don’t know you personally who choose to spend their money on your work. This is critical because without validation, you don’t actually know if there’s a market for what you’re creating. You might be marketing perfectly, but if the work itself hasn’t been validated by real sales to real customers, that’s a fundamental problem that no amount of marketing can solve. Validation confirms there’s actual demand for what you’re offering.

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Asked by general teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2020-10-17