I really enjoyed this one. As an artist who has had some pieces in a small gallery showing I can relate to this story. This story shows the main actions and some of the feelings that go into it, but it doesn't approach the more complicated perspectives involved. It's all told from the artist's perspective.

• Galleries try to get people to come look at artist's work, but to do that, they have to show work that people will like, or more broadly what people will come view. It's a catch 22.

• Some artists' work simply doesn't have the time effort and work put into it that others do. Others have insightful concepts that will get them into a gallery even if it doesn't show time and thought in their work. These artists can turn out to be one hit wonders, or they can go on to make a living off of shoddy work with an insightful idea behind it. The "art world" is fickle.

• The art movement right now is about showing one's own self and style. The idea is, everything under the sun has been done, except your personal view. So the current trend is letting the art come out of who you are as a person rather than the art achieving some new mental understanding of what art can be (impressionism, cubism, etc).

• In my opinion this has developed into pigeonholing artists into one specific repetitive art style (branding). Singularly encouraging self-identification and simultaneously stifling artistic freedom. To be a "renaissance man" in this day and age is almost looked down upon.

• If I had to guess, I suspect that in the next generation or two, popular art will swing (again) in the opposite direction and art will be about exploring ALL the facets of one's self, instead of maintaining stylistic uniformity.

Even institutions that teach art have to be critical of someone's work in order to get them to grow.

This idea in particular is what came across to me in "The Artist." After each rejection he expands himself to new heights, so he as an artist is growing, but at the same time in order to be accepted he is being pulled into what is popular. As long as the artist grows, but doesn't forget the lessons from past experiences he truly will become a great artist. Which is exactly what he does by keeping the "failed" pieces for himself. He doesn't throw away his past work believing it to be garbage, continuing to chase popularity. He hasn't compromised himself, because he still values his prior work.