It’s easy to market something familiar, but how do you make a pitch for something completely unique and unheard of? According to the contemporary painter and entrepreneur, Dan York, the common question all artists ask is “How do I market my masterpiece?”

Finding his calling for arts early in his life, Dan has not only experienced the dilemmas of self-expression but also the struggle of finding an audience that would appreciate what he puts out. He’s met countless critics, curators, and creators alike and has been told at one point that “the best artists could be living in trailer parks”. Through his learnings, he makes it a point that after the mastery of your craft, communication comes next as the cornerstone of success in the field of artistry.

“As an artist, you’re trying to be the best,” he says, “but at some point, you realize it’s not really about being the best anymore, it’s about communication and all these things start to come together.”

When we asked him about his entrepreneurial journey and his pursuit of excelling in a style that he could call his own, Dan shared that the path he took was rough and filled with heartbreak, doubt, and problems all the way to the end, but he states that it’s just how life is; it never gets easier but the results make the work worthwhile.

“Being an entrepreneur is not an easy life.” He says, “but it also forces you to learn everything, and I really love that approach to life in general. It goes into art as well, you’ll usually find that when you get into the art world, it’s no different than the entrepreneurial world, as a matter of fact, it’s the exact same.”

Making a living out of art is a constant battle with yourself and the people you present it to, and in this line of work, it’s easy to be swayed by opinions. Dan reminds us that an artist’s pieces are a reflection of who they are, and the purity of their style will mirror the quality of their art.

“Everybody’s trying to be accepted and find their own way,” he gleams, “and so you go from being ‘you’ to being this conglomeration of opinions…it’s kind of like ‘here’s you’ and you just stick a bunch of pieces of bubble gum all over ‘you’ and after a while, you’re not you anymore, and what you’re creating shows it.”

1 lucky listener will be receiving one of Dan’s “Dillusionist Series” pieces, measuring 16”x 16”

More from Dan:

• Website – https://danielmatthewyork.com/
• Instagram – @danielmatthewyork