phtan.github.io/v_journal.html

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<p>
If you are interested, I am selling my original visual works online, at
<a href="https://tonychen.bigcartel.com">
https://tonychen.bigcartel.com
</a>
</p>
<hr />
<h3>When a No to my sales became a Yes, and what it means for me
</h3>
<p>
I remember, in the winter of the year 2013, in the city of Taipei, I was trying to sell a bicycle.
</p>
<p>
I got some interest from a fellow exchange-student, a Japanese male, young. He came over to my dorm, on my invitation, viewed
my bicycle, and, coming up to my room for a chat, told me he wasn't buying my bicycle after all.
</p>
<p>
At that time, I didn't ask him for his reason for turning down my sales-offer - I was too upset by this rejection, maybe - and after chatting
a little more, he said he was going back to his dorm.
</p>
<p>
I was crest-fallen but I said to him, "I'll accompany you back to your dorm, then."
</p>
<p>
And I was on my bike, while he walked - or, I let him take my bike, while I walked, I don't remember - either way, we matched our
respective paces, and got to his dorm - where and when he let me know he was buying my bicycle.
</p>
<p>
I tried to get him to buy it at the price I had set earlier, but he said many times he only had so-and-so amount of money.
</p>
<p>
"Ok, I'll sell it to you," I said, thinking that even if he was feigning insufficient money to match my price, he seemed to be
putting up a consistent enough pretence.
</p>
<p>
So, what does this mean to me today, nearly six years later?
</p>
<p>
First, six years on, I realised that I got the sale only after I had given up on it. So I want to challenge myself, to question myself,
in my sales today, "If I knew that I wouldn't make any money from these interactions, what would I do with these people?"
</p>
<p>
Six years ago, thinking that I wouldn't make any money anyway, I offered to accompany that exchange-student back to his dorm.
On a cold night. It seems to me, in hind-sight, that I valued my friendship with him, more than any potential sales he represented.
</p>
<p>
So, today, I'm selling my original abstract visual artwork. If I assume that I'm not going to make any money from these pictures,
what would I do?
</p>
<p>
I value responses from my audience. If those who view my works have- if they experience my works <i>resonating</i> with them,
if they have an interpretation of my works, I want to hear about it. I love hearing these kinds of things: how my works come alive
in their eyes, or in their lives.
</p>
<p>
So I extend this invitation now to the reader - my works are at
<a href="https://tonychen.bigcartel.com">
https://tonychen.bigcartel.com
</a> , and also I blog about my works
at <a href="https://alls-futility.tumblr.com">https://alls-futility.tumblr.com</a> , so go ahead, check them out, if you want - and tell me if it means something to you.
</p>
<p>
That's my first take-away from my bicycle-sales six years ago. To find a more meaningful aspect to my sales than money.
</p>
<p>
I have no second take-away; I have come to the limit of the pocket of time that I've set aside for this little piece of writing.
</p>
<p>
Thank you.</p>
<hr />
<p>In the year 2017 A.D., an
<a href="https://mira-yoon.format.com/">art therapist</a> recommended that I make a visual journal. Elaborating on what such a journal was, she said to
write down what my artwork was about, or, if I am not mistaken in my recollection, my thoughts and/or feelings
at the point in time that I made my artwork. She said that it would be a record for my own reference in the future.
</p>
<p>I chose to make my visual journal public at the following URL:
<a href="https://alls-futility.tumblr.com">
https://alls-futility.tumblr.com
</a>
</p>
</html>