What Does Success in the Arts Look Like? - Interview XXIV with Gundega Evelone
/Gundega Evelone - Artist, Riga (LAtvia)
Gundega Evelone (1988) is a multidisciplinary artist. Although she holds an MA in Sculpture from the Art Academy of Latvia, her practice spans various mediums that are called upon as required in order to create an ever more encompassing staged version of reality that strives to wholly involve and influence the viewer. Currently the artist is moving in two distinctly opposed directions – she explores the human element in different social and historical situations while working with such fundamental concepts as ‘space’, ‘matter’ and ‘existence – nonexistence’, trying to find connections in her work between the real, tangible world and each individual’s subjective perception.
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What are your thoughts on fame in the arts?
If it helps your work to gain momentum, why not? But if you think about art just as some kind of tool to reach fame you are not true artist, you are simply a trophy hunter with some visual skills and it soon will become visible to others.
What is your approach to rejection as a site of success?
If I have understood the question right- Immediate rejection (like for some idea or project) can help me to see my work from a different angle and I could benefit from it. If this is about sort of a general notion of rejection (like parts of a society that rejects you for what you are) it can be a very painful and heartbreaking experience. It is not healthy and I personally think that suffering won't make anybody better as artist or human being. But sometimes rejection can fuel you to continue your fight and improve your resilience - if you are stubborn. And I'm stubborn.
Any thoughts on income and financial stability and success?
Honestly, for me as for most struggling artists, it would be great to get paid some money for my art. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not, and sometimes I'm the one losing and my bank account shows it.
The art scene in Latvia is actually mostly funded through our State Cultural Capital Foundation (SCCF) but it is not enough for all causes. Sometimes, I have the feeling that I should be making projects that fit within the label of trending, fashioned art topics or that I should change my visual style (to make it more appealing for a general public?) in order to get some funding (as I asume some others do), but I just can't step on this path since it is not me, and I feel I would sell my integrity.
How do you define success in the arts?
To be able to have freedom in you work work and with your beliefs.
To have time and possibility to work and to carry out ideas in physical form.
To have like-minded people around you.
Getting some money back, so you dedicate yourself only to creation.
To be a recognized artist and to use the possibilities this fame provides you with. (if you get famous, it will be easier to realize all previous points on the list.)
Do you have role models for success and who are they?
In the arts - no, I don't have any. Sometimes when it's tough I think about common successful people (like Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Madonna and others) in abstract and symbolic ways to cheer me up. One think they seem to have in common is that they didn't give a shit about criticism or disbelief from others.
Which advice on success would you give your 18-year-old self?
"Don't doubt your qualification, ideas, and own meanings! If someone calls you crazy take it as a compliment! Those who criticize you may be on a different path as you are. You are great!"
Your thoughts on success in the arts and race/ gender.
I haven't met anybody yet in Latvia who has been discriminated against in the arts because of their ethnic background, since we don't have many people from diverse backgrounds in the art scene in Latvia. That said, discrimination because of race or skin colour is a big thing in Lavia in general and I am truly deeply ashamed of it.
Speaking of gender, yes, I can see those "glass ceilings" in the profesional art world. You can see it when a woman becomes pregnant, suddenly you hear questions like "Will she calm down?", "Will she come back? Because it is considered normal to get absorbed in motherhood and leave the professional art world. In my experience, women with small children won't get so many offers for projects anymore. Some even think that there ist no place (physically or mentally) for children in the live of an artist (even at exhibition openings), and if you have a child, you better hide it! Honestly, I just know a few women artists who professionally work in the art world and proudly involve their children in their work as part of their life, because children are a meaningful part of their personality, at least I think so—I'm one of them.
