Innovation

part of 'Sea of wisdom' acrylic on paper 

The thought suddenly came up, but I just realized that all self-respecting contemporary artists, have an enormous pressure on them. Simultaneously to the developments in the world of machinery/gadgets/communications etc.. to me it seems that an artist nowadays has to keep on evolving and innovating at the same rate. This is largely due to internet and it's communication tools.

If one doesn't innovate, one will be caught up by other artists. There are so many of them....
I would never want to change with them, but at least the artists living in the 19th century (and earlier) did feel no breathing down their necks of a rapidly changing world. Also there were much less artists to compete with. Of course they had to evolve and innovate, but much... much slower....
To look at the bright side: they had other problems ... and a little pressure can give surprising results!