We have been discussing the topic of feedback quite a bit recently. In fact, I recently posted an article titled “The Sample Size of One Trap: Navigating Critical Feedback”, where we explored the danger of over-indexing on a single person’s opinion when it comes to business decisions.
However, I want to revisit this topic from a slightly different angle today. While my previous post dealt with the logic of analyzing feedback, today I want to address the emotional reality of it.
Because let’s be honest: rejection stings.
Recently, an artist shared with me that they received some incredibly blunt feedback from a gallery association. The comments were harsh, telling the artist that their work felt “more craft than art” and that “less is more.” When you pour your soul into your work, reading words like that can feel like a physical blow. It is easy to look at that rejection and feel the urge to retreat or, worse, to completely reinvent your portfolio to please that one critic.
Here is why you need to resist that urge, and how you can build the resilience to keep moving forward.
The Danger of Reinvention
The biggest risk when receiving harsh criticism isn’t that your feelings get hurt; the risk is that you actually listen to it and change your course based on a single opinion.
Imagine you submit your portfolio to a venue, and they reject it because it’s “too colorful.” If you immediately run back to the studio and start painting in neutrals, two things happen. First, you lose the authenticity of your voice. Second, and more practically, you inadvertently sabotage your chances with the next gallery on your list—the one that might have been looking for exactly that kind of vibrant color.
You cannot afford to stop and reinvent your artwork for every opinion you receive. If you try to please everyone, you will end up pleasing no one.
Consider the Source
When feedback feels unnecessarily harsh, take a moment to evaluate who is giving it.
Is it a gallery owner who has successfully sold art for 30 years? Is it a fellow artist who might be projecting their own insecurities or jealousy? Is it a juror for an association who simply has a different aesthetic preference?
There are as many opinions as there are people. Just because someone holds a position of authority in a local art association does not mean they are the final arbiter of what constitutes “good” art. Often, rejection is simply a matter of a “square peg in a round hole.” It wasn’t a fit. That doesn’t mean the peg is broken; it just means you need to find a square hole.
Rejections are Just Data Points
To survive in this business, you have to develop a thicker skin. You need to view submissions not as a test of your worth, but as a numbers game.
When you are looking for representation, you are going to be reaching out to many potential venues. You should view every rejection not as a stop sign, but simply as a notch on your checklist. You knocked on that door, they said no, and now you check it off and move to the next one.
Somewhere down that list is a gallery that is going to love exactly what you are doing in the same way you love it. Your job is to have enough stamina to get to them.
You Are in Good Company
Finally, if you feel discouraged, look at history. If we made a list of all the great artists who were mocked, scorned, or rejected by the “establishments” of their time, we would be listing the masters. From the Impressionists to the Abstract Expressionists, many artists were told their work was invalid before they were told it was genius.
If you are receiving strong reactions—even negative ones—it means your work has a point of view. Stay true to that view. Keep plugging away, keep submitting, and don’t let a “sample size of one” dictate your artistic destiny.
How Do You Cope with Rejection?
We have all faced the sting of a rejection letter or a harsh comment. Do you have a specific ritual or mindset you use to shake it off and get back to work? Share your strategies for resilience in the comments below.
This is great advice!! Thank you!!
Year before last I submitted an entry to an important equine juried show, to be held in the town I lived in. This was a national event. I submitted a painting I was proud of. I wasn’t sure if it would be accepted but hopeful, aren’t we all. I didn’t request a feedback critique. I was notified that I didn’t make the cut and I was okay with it, you don’t get accepted into everything you enter. The next day I received a critique from someone in the organization and they proceeded to tear my painting apart. It wasn’t fine, equine art. The edges didn’t blend into the background, it was amateurish in the style, and it went on and on. Not one word about the actual subjects, the horses but everything about the way I painted. I responded and told them I didn’t think I was a good fit for their organization since I didn’t fit the mold they were looking for and I was withdrawing my membership and would not be renewing it. I came soooo close to letting this one person change who I was as an artist but I’m confident in my work and myself and this year I’ve been chosen as the official festival artist for a prestigious Native American art festival. I’m glad I believed in myself but what about other artists who entered and got ripped apart? How did such a viscous critique affect them? Yes, we need to be open and listen to others, especially when several people mention the same issue but, jurors have a responsibility to help move an artist forward, not slam them against a wall.
Your critic sounds like “power corrupts”… I rather liked your response.
I’ve heard nothing but criticism for my design and artwork since I picked up a pencil. From my elementary teachers to working professionally in graphic design from bosses and product managers, to fellow colleagues where I was teaching at a university.
I always wondered when I did win awards, why these very people were first in line to claim credit?!
You think Picasso had it easy? The price of greatness requires one to withstand the arrows, the frowns, the harsh criticisms that just accompany anyone who tries to do anything outside of the norm. The alternative is to do nothing!
Say nothing.
Do nothing.
Be nothing.
We aren’t artists to get praise (although it is nice to hear). We have a mission, a conscience, a drive, a mandate, and a talent. We can bury that talent. Or we can raise hell.
I prefer the latter.
I was ripped apart by a juror the first time I was brave enough to enter a show. It hurt me so much that I couldn’t paint for 8 months. Then I thought I’m not painting for the juror, I’m painting for myself. From then on other people’s opinions had absolutely no affect on me. So maybe it was a good thing.
I had always heard/read that artists should visit galleries and see ones carry work that our works would fit well. Well, I’ve been told that my paintings look too much like other artists’ pieces that the gallery already has, and that I need to develop a style that essentially screams my name.
So — is that first piece of advice worthless nowadays?
Jason, I like this article. I know how frustration it is of not being accepted. I haven’t found a gallery
yet that likes my style of art. I am a landscape artist. The only organization that likes my work is Alexander Art where I have been submitting my landscapes for review by a master artist. It is disappointing not finding a gallery to represent me, but I’m still trying.
I was once rejected from a show and the critique said my perspective was off. Later I happened to meet this juror and I kindly asked them to show me what was wrong with the painting? He took out a ruler and started looking at the angles and shook his head and said, all seems to be correct…it just didn’t look like it was! Made me feel better.
Very good advice, Jason. I was once figuratively knocked on my keister by a very critical review of a sculpture I carved. The criticism came from someone I believed was a good artist that I respected. I died a little inside that day. However, I sold that sculpture about 8 years ago, and it remains my highest priced single sculpture I have sold to date. And the collectors love it – they mention it to me often. I come back to life inside every time I hear from them. Beauty, and art, is in the eye of the beholder.
Early in my career I submitted a painting to a prestigious juried national show in New York City and it received one of the top awards in the show. I later submitted it to a local secondary show and it was rejected. It was a valuable lesson regarding opinions on the merits of a work of art.
My favorite line to use when someone offers an unasked-for negative opinion about my work is, “My art isn’t for everyone.”
It usually disarms them and leaves them slightly off-balance — not attacked, but also not affirmed in their judgment. People who criticize art often seem to expect one of two responses: a defense or visible hurt. I offer neither.
What still mystifies me is the impulse to voice unkind opinions at all. I was raised to believe that if you don’t have something kind to say, it’s better to say nothing — a principle that feels increasingly rare these days.
This simple phrase gently reminds people that taste is subjective. My work may not speak their artistic language, and that’s completely okay. I’m not trying to convince anyone that I’m a great artist, nor am I seeking approval. I’m simply stating a fact: I know my art isn’t for everyone.
And just as importantly, I know there are plenty of people my art is for.
Great advice, I agree. I wonder if the same could be said about positive feedback. I can imagine that some positive feedback, especially from certain people who we want to please, can also exert a gravity that may not be best for our path. Best to just take it all in stride, good and bad, then keep following that inner north star… 🌟
Brilliant advice! Thank you, Jason.