Once again this year I'm applying for the West Prize. I didn't win last year, but I was a finalist in the Christi Naked competition, so what the heck.
This year the West Prize site allows star ratings. Visitors can rate any or all of the artists applying. Everyone starts out with the default three stars (very generous, I think). You can see I've got only one star.
This upsets me less than I expected. I thought I'd be crushed but it turns out I don't care that much. I mean, I care enough to check back every day, but not so much that I'm devastated by my low rating. Turns out it's easy for me to rationalize it. I figure most people are only giving high ratings to their friends and relatives and low ratings to anyone making work they hate for ideological reasons. I further figure that the kind of work I do is the kind a lot of artists would hate for ideological reasons. It goes without saying that I consider those people jealous, incompetent nincompoops. So clearly the poor rating of my work indicates that it's actually fantastic.
Or something like that. When my mind works that way, it worries me a bit.
Incidentally, do not consider this a plea for anyone to go and give me a higher rating. Don't worry about it. It's not important.
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