“I like your work”
I have witnessed/personally heard/groaned about this statement in countless critiques throughout college and my professional career as well as in instagram comments and the occasional in-person comment made directly to the creatives face from a passerby. This is the comment creatives hear the most about our work and it’s the one comment we often find ourselves wishing we would stop receiving.
Do not get me wrong, we LOVE when people like our work! It fills us with joy and reminds us that this is why we do what we do; This is why, all of the hours of self doubt and crying sessions brought on by the frustration of just trying to make something are 100% worth it. However, what I am saying, is we hear this generic, cookie cutter compliment 9 times out of 10, so it gets old pretty fast. What we would rather hear is how our work makes you feel, if it reminds you of “that one time at your grandmas house when you were 8 years old and the afternoon light was spilling in through the window and highlighting the mouse figurines she collected and neatly placed on her kitchen shelves, and the pride she had in them as she sat there across the table from you starring at her collection,” and how that feeling of nostalgia came rushing back to you when you saw our work because it included elements that took you right back to that memory. Or we’d like to hear what you think the piece is trying to convey or even where you think it misses the mark at conveying what we were trying to deliver to you. Or even “I like that you used yellow in this piece, yellow makes me happy and I think that’s what you were trying to do here, make your viewer happy.”
Pause from scrolling and mindlessly “liking” on social media and take a moment to tell us your inner thoughts and feelings about that piece if you truly do like it on a deeper level than it just being visually appealing and looking good on your feed. Tell us the details, the nitty gritty of why you like our work. Give us some time to tell us WHAT you like about it and WHY you like it, just like how we gave that piece hanging in front of you more time than you can even imagine. That’s the stuff we really want to hear. That’s the stuff that drives us!
I LIKE YOUR WORK, 2019 was created with this in mind. The statement occurring and overlapping again and again represents the repetitive pattern in which we hear this on a daily basis. This work is meant to be a friendly reminder to all (myself included), to dig deeper and explore your feelings of why you like something and not just “like” something with a double tap just as quickly as you scrolled upon it.
This design can be purchased in art prints and an assortment of other items here!