You put in the time, you dedicate yourself to your craft, you learn to market yourself; you sit, roll over, wag and jump all for someone to genuinely SEE you. All you're looking for are eyes, minds and hearts that connect with what you've made... to feel every moment, every brushstroke, every thought, every FEELING you spent all of your time trying to convey... and for what? Nobody actually cares about art anyway. Especially not good art. Nobody really looks closely, do they? No. They want intrigue, they want popular culture, they want FOMO, they want a story... just not the one you made up, unfortunately. They DO want your story though, but fuck you if it's not salacious. How many times have you been told from behind comments with fire emojis that your work only actually matters if YOU matter? More than you've probably noticed, and more than we ever really admit. People should care a lot more about art.