The Shelf

I've tried every which way to personally turn people on to my wares (to the point of giving it away for free) and, ultimately, I never figured out who cared what I did until my work was contrasted on "the shelf." Your friends/family/peers will most often support your cause but to be sanctioned by "the shelf" is a qualifier for most buyers. I feel that "The Shelf," for all its difficulties and hardships to get a seat on, is a CURATED shelf. Sometimes curated by bonafide taste-makers and critics, often curated by friends/family/peers, or, worse, money that buys you a spot on that crowded shelf. Still, that crowded shelf, even as it expands its digital tentacles into our phones, is an important shelf to be on. The alternative is to spark a scorched earth of "Me/Me/Me/and ONLY me," a tumblr culture we're steadfast entering as the entrepreneurial world becomes more and more narcissistic and nihilistic. I'd rather fight my way onto the shelf and use that leverage to find a way to stick out because it's a pretty amazing shelf. Call me old but the shelf is the place I look to when I want something classic or new and fresh. Despite the shelf, I seek and build community to help spread like-minded gospel....to be a part of something.

The Shelf

Joe Matt (RIP)

Baltimore Comic-Con 2023

Dean Haspiel & BILLY DOGMA at Work-Bites.com

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