Artists today face a dilemma. It isn't a new dilemma by any means. But it is magnified.  Maybe out of proportion.
If you haven't been noticing, more people are painting now than ever before. I mentioned this fact in previous Musings in the past.
Many are new to painting and art. Many do it for various reasons. And I am happy they have discovered art making. I have written of the personal enrichments that making art encompasses.   Many do not seek professional status. They get satisfaction just from the process.
They notice, through art, their lives are inexplicably enriched. The world around them seems different the more they explore. Colors are more vibrant. Time slows. And they develop an greater understanding of the world around them.
With more and more people creating art and the ubiquitous intrusion of the Internet and social media, much of this "new" work is being posted online. We are being conditioned to post everything we do without regard to how it looks, what stage of ability we have achieved or whether it contributes to a greater message.
In the process the internet is inundated with work of dubious quality. What we see mostly is in the area of " abstract" art. I put abstract in parenthesis because even abstract art has rules. It allows for experimentation, but there are underlying rules which are being either disregarded, misunderstood or those making it are ignorant of these rules. I am not going to list these rules here. And yes, rules are made to be broken. But how do you break a rule if you don't know the rule?
Suffice it to say there is a mix of bad art; art made from ignorance and some very good " abstract" art on the Internet.
What I see when I look up new artists is their desire to paint and a willingness to put in the time. The issue, as I see it is, many are blindly stumbling in the dark hoping to hit on something they know little about. The fact anyone who puts paint to canvas is creating art is a fallacy.  So to the issue of this musing. How to force viewers to your work?
Art has developed over centuries from cave paintings to the Sistine Chapel (as an example) in that time there have been a plethora of artists and styles which have come and some gone. Yet, with every style which has come before it was based on some set of rules and methods. The artist took that prevailing style, learned it, understood it, then broke the rules and created a new style.
My point here is simple. Knowledge of the past (in art) is required to insure what you are doing will get noticed. What you are doing appeals to the masses. What you are doing makes some sort of sense others can appreciate. What you are doing must be based on knowledge of art history. It is a huge expenditure of effort to new artists, not knowing where your going if you don't know from where you have come.