5-12-20 | Matt Pierson Artworks | Live-Stream Woes

May 12, 2020

Hello True Art Believers!

I do a ton of live streaming of me painting.  I must be honest though, sometimes I feel very awkward most of the time doing it.  There is this pressure to treat it as a performance and to entertain, but the reality is that it can be quite boring.  I find myself saying the most non-sequitur phrases. 

What used to be a very personal activity has become more of a spectator sport.  Sometimes when I am live streaming, I am as silent as dead of night, only able to hear the crickets in the background.  Other times I am hyped up and very talkative.  Often, it feels like a forced activity having to create a dialogue with the viewer. Today, it is necessary to connect with your audience, I just wish there were more substance to my work.

In my mind, it is very simple and easy to make these works.  There really is not much explaining to do, it is all very intuitive.  That is through years of practice and experience.  So when I do live streams I am stuck in a conundrum in having to explain the process.  What used to be intuitive, and fluid, now has become an exercise in informing the viewer.  At times, I can be very cumbersome and at a loss for words because I am stuck having to work different parts of my brain. 

So, if you ever happen to watch my live streams and wonder why ninety percent of what I say is garbage.  While the other ten percent has some merit, it is because my focus is on the act of painting.  I am not focusing on the dialogue.   Perhaps I need more of a cohesive discourse in my live streams, but for now, I will just stick to painting

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