Art as an Emotional Trigger; A note for artists, gallery owners, and promoters.

This is how I see it or rather one of the ways I see Art.  When a person looks at a piece of art it will elicit a response sometimes physical always emotional. (Stendhal’s Syndrome is a physical response to the emotional response of art – you literally get sick from being overwhelmed by art.)  One of the things that is so great about art and the experience of art appreciation is that it is different for each individual.  Each persons reaction is uniquely their own and none are wrong.

Something that we as Artists, Gallery owners, and Art Show Promoters do (that we may not know or appreciate fully) is that we sell emotional triggers, now that’s exciting.  Why is it exciting?   Well I’ll get to that in a moment.

The gamete of available emotions can span any of the emotions listed below or any combination that you can imagine.  Take a moment to look over this list and try to recall if there are pieces of art that you own or have seen that were successful in bringing about any of these emotions.

Anger – Anxiety – Appreciation – Apprehensive – Ashamed – Astonished – Awe - Fear – Fun - Confidence – Denial – Depression – Envy – Enthusiasm – Frustration – Gratitude - Grief - Guilt - Happiness - Harmony - Hope – Jealously – Love – Offended – Optimistic – Patient - Pride  - Regret – Resentful - Sad - Self-pity – Shame - Trust – Vitality - Vulnerable – Worried

If you did what I asked above you are most likely in a different place mentally than when you started reading this article.  Your mental/emotional change was a result of your personal experiences coupled with the emotion you felt in remembering any particular piece of art during the exercise.  Do you want to know something really cool? Guess what?  You can recapture that emotion each time you see that piece of art again or even just remember it.   Yep, cool.

Now you now have a direct frame of reference as to what an “emotional trigger” is and with that in mind, read on.

When we bring art to the general public we can all be proud that we are providing people with a means to elicit feelings or emotions that they crave.  Further they help those that view the art works to broaden their horizons, flesh out there existence, and if they acquire those tangible triggers it will bring about those desirable feeling on a daily basis.

People who buy art are not just looking for a splash of color.  (If they are, they can find that at a big box store.)  Luckily a painting or any piece of original art can be so much more.  It can give a person a sensory trip including any of the above said emotions, and deliver that trigger each time it is viewed, that is value that you as a creator or purveyor of art can provide to the public. 

The same can be said about pottery, sculpture, glass, and jewelry -literally any form of art.  Owning a piece of art or many is appealing in that it may bring an emotional element into their daily lives.   It might be that they lack and desire elements in there lives like whimsy, joy, serenity, happiness, and in short, good feelings. 

 When engaging the public be aware of the emotions that are part of the attraction to art.  Help the person you are working with to get in touch with their desires whatever they are. 

 A tip I’d like to offer to anyone involved in selling art is, that as you are trying to identify your target demographic also try to identify what it is that they are most interested in bringing into there lives on a daily basis and tailor works to their desires for increased financial success.   Creating art to satisfy yourself may well be your ultimate goal but creating art to fill a need of the public is the way to financially support your personal creative desires.  Some call this selling out some call it a necessary evil -whatever it may be to you, your survival as an artist depends on meeting the needs and desires of those with disposable income in order to finance your life and subsequently your art.