I think that context is king in everything. It’s a pretty philosophical statement to make but worth making over and again as it’s not widely understood. It is everywhere as a premise in Gladwell’s books from The Tipping Point to Outliers. It’s not what you do but the environment in which you do it that ultimately determines success. That applies whatever your career or ambition. Context is pretty much all that isn’t your work but has an effect on what happens to it.

To be a successful artist you need to have an awareness of or a feel for the world where your work is being presented. You have to be relevant in that world for recognition. The values change from one art-form to the next but the same is true for all: No relevance, no recognition. No recognition, no success. I’ve spent my career watching people fail to grasp this in favour of holding to more commonplace outlooks like simply being good enough (whatever that means). Good enough is never enough.

Most of these people are artists no longer. It usually had little to do with their work not having sufficient genius quality or emotional resonance (content). It was always their failure to navigate the environment (context).