How to Handle Negative Art Criticism and Transform It into Creative Momentum

I have always been a vocal supporter of critical feedback. Like anybody in the arts, I immediately get cold shivers when I think of the heartless gruelling crit sessions we enduried in art school, but I will still maintain that crit sessions are a vital part of your creative process. Why? Because it isn't just about finding what is ‘wrong/ not quite working’ with our work, but it is also a mirror that teaches us more about what kind of artist we are, or style we have.

To take crits from a negative-borderline-narcissistic-power-ranting-charade to something that actually helps you to improve your art is not actually that difficult, and shouldn’t ignite anxiety. In my experience, the way I build a critical feedback loop into my art practice is by finding the artistic voices around me that I respected and also knew would be honest with me – even if the feedback was negative.

As I have grown my career since 2015, I have made an effort to show my work while still in process to my trusted art critics (and NOT social media). In order for me to know that they are the right people for the job, they need to tick these boxes:

1. Know me on a personal level in some capacity. This is important because we do not make art that isn’t connected to ourselves, and if we start making work that isn’t authentic, our critics have the right and insight to call us out for it.

2. Have a broad understanding of the contemporary art world and my position within it. We do not make art in a vacuum, so my critics need to be familiar with the world I am working in.

3. They should be artists themselves. I can’t give a lawyer advice on how to fight her case in court, and I wouldn’t want them to give me advice on the composition of my screenprint.

4. They should be honest and unemotional when it comes to hard truths. If my work is not going in a direction that is working, or I’m off the mark somehow, I want my critics to be blunt with me.

Easy peasy.

And it all runs smoothly. And we all live happily ever after.

Until the dreaded moment where you receive negative feedback that totally blindsides you.

This happened to me recently. Someone who has been a fair critic of my work for years, told me that they are not liking some of my new work. As I am human and not nearly as enlightened as I hoped I was, I immediately went on the defensive. I explained away their concern and justified why this work was in fact good and their critique of it was invalid.

However, over the next few days I kept mulling over their words. Almost like licking my wound. I started to see the critics point. Moreover, I started to realise how this work that I am so willing to cling onto and energetically defend, is keeping me distracted from the really important big ideas I want to do. The big stuff I’m scared of. The big stuff that will challenge me.

The thing with criticism, whether it is positive or negative is that you don’t need to take it all on, and you should not shrug it all off either. It should be a reflective process of unpacking the feedback and finding the nuggets of information that can help you to move forward as an artist.

So, in my heart I still disagree with a lot of what my critic told me – and that’s ok. However, receiving that criticism was valuable as it made me stop and think about why I am so emotionally protective over this – and recognise that it was distracting me from the work I really should be fiercely working on. The stuff that keeps me up at night and makes my heart beat faster.

15 years into this, I clearly still don’t take negative feedback well, but I am learning and growing. And I know that this won't be my last encounter with it. Hopefully next time I learn to reel in my ego a little better. Lol!

So if you've recently received tough feedback, I invite you to pause, reflect, and ask: What is this really touching in me? What fear—or dream—is it pointing toward?