What does it mean to be an "established" artist? The Cambridge Dictionary defines the adjective as "accepted or respected because of having existed for a long period of time". Is career longevity enough to make an "established" artist? There are plenty of artists meeting success after only a few years in the game.
Maybe it's popularity that helps to "establish" an artist? Salvador Dalí said that the "thermometer of success is merely the jealousy of the malcontents". Success to Dalí was being well known and annoying your competitors.
Perhaps the success needed to be deemed "established" is financial? Andy Warhol amassed a huge following, a lot of money, and - as Dalí prioritised - a lot of critics. However, he doubted whether financial success was imperative to "establishing" oneself: "I’ll bet there are lots of artists that nobody hears about who just make more money than anybody. The people that do all the sculptures and paintings for big building construction. We never hear about them, but they make more money than anybody."
It seems that it's not clear what truly makes an artist "established", but it's likely a combination of longevity, popularity, and financial success. What is clear, however, is that the concept of "establishing" oneself is not as important as staying true to one's artistic truth.
"Don’t be fooled by success and money. Don’t let anything come between you and your work." – Louise Bourgeois
"Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing." – Georgia O’Keeffe
We have brought together a collection of work by Rise Artists who have excelled by any definition of success, including Gavin Turk, Takashi Murakami, Tom Phillips, Fatola Israel, Sandra Blow, Sir Peter Blake,, Dave White, Jane Ward, Joe Webb, Andy Gotts, Philip Vaughan, Halima Cassell, Nina Fowler, Reisha Perlmutter, Rosalind Davis, Sara Shamma, Alexandra Gallagher, Seçil Erel, Adam Bridgland, Patrick Hughes, KAWS, Nadia Attura, Irene Hoff, Nelson Makamo and Odilia Fu.
