(boldomatic)

I’ve watched a whole lot of people stroll through the Musee Picasso in Paris in the late 1990’s before it closed for a big renovation.  It used to be my hang out.  I’d pick a bench and spend a few hours a day there when I needed to escape from life.  I’d say about half the people who’d come would race through to check it off their sightseeing list, stopping to look “hard” at one or two of the more challenging paintings and shrug or roll-eyes or otherwise dismiss the work.  Not everyone understands Picasso.  Or, even better said, not everyone cares to understand Picasso because Picasso is not really vibing with their reality or standards of beauty.

So…

Why should everyone need to like and understand us?

Exactly. They won’t… and they don’t need to!

To me, the fact that people even know my work enough to dismiss what I do is a huge compliment… and the fact that people see enough of a certain character in what I do that is distinct enough to react to, even negatively, makes me feel thrilled and honored.

Of course, I want to be liked. And I’m betting you do, too.

But for all the risks we don’t take and all the things we don’t do in the name of being “liked”, afraid to be disliked… it’s never worth it.

As Dita Von Teese said best: “You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches.”

And, lots of people who love them.

xoxo Dana