The Art of Humility in the Age of Personal Branding

Every creative act hides an ethical choice: to impose a vision or to allow something autonomous to emerge, not as a random event but as a spontaneous process of listening. This is true for someone who manipulates an algorithm, for someone who sculpts marble, and for someone who curates an exhibition. This willingness for non-control is practical humility, not a passive-contemplative attitude. In the contemporary art system, dominated by the market, spectacle, and personal branding, humility seems like a handicap. But perhaps it's precisely here that the authenticity of an artistic gesture is measured.

The Artist as a Function, Not a Brand

The mythology of the artist-genius has produced a century of overt narcissism. But if we look at the works that stand the test of time, they often belong to those who knew how to step aside. Morandi didn't paint bottles to express himself, but to explore formal relationships that are irreducible to personality. Rothko considered his paintings failures if they were read as decorations instead of as experiences. Artistic humility is not a characteristic of modesty, but a method of work. It means accepting that the work always exceeds the author's intentions, that meaning is generated in the encounter with the gaze of others. The artist then becomes a facilitator of a process that surpasses them.

Collecting: Accumulation or Custody

Whoever collects art makes a political choice, even when they don't realize it. Collecting can be a form of domination – transforming beauty into symbolic capital – or an act of cultural responsibility. The collector who practices humility does not possess works, they pass through them. They don't accumulate them for social distinction, but recognize that they are a temporary link in a chain of transmission. Their function is to preserve and make accessible what others have created, knowing that one day they will have to return it to the community. This perspective radically changes the relationship with the artistic object: from a private trophy to a temporarily kept common good.

Technology: Amplification of the Ego or Democratization of Access

The digital revolution has produced clear paradoxes in the world of art. On one hand, social platforms that transform every creative act into content for the attention economy. Algorithms that reward immediate impact at the expense of complexity. Artificial intelligences that generate infinite stylistic variations without the need for technical skill or critical reflection. On the other hand, tools that break down geographical and economic barriers to cultural access. Digital archives that make heritage, once reserved for the elite, available to anyone. Reproduction technologies that allow one to study otherwise inaccessible works. The difference is not in the technology itself, but in the use made of it. The humble artist will use digital tools to share processes, not just results. To create connections, not followers. To open dialogues, not amplified monologues. The critical point is that technology tends to make the work invisible: the creative process is compressed into immediate outputs, and technical learning is replaced by automation. Humility, in this context, means restoring visibility to the effort, time, and imperfection that every authentic search entails.

Humility as Aesthetic Resistance

Humility in art is not a放弃 [renunciation] of expressive power, but a rejection of art as a spectacle of the self. In a society that transforms everything into a performance, choosing subtraction becomes a symbolic act. It means privileging duration over impact, depth over surface, relationship over projection. It means accepting that not everything needs to be communicated, that silence can be more eloquent than a declaration. The work born of humility does not seek to conquer the viewer, but to meet them. It does not impose meanings, but negotiates them. It does not propose itself as a solution, but as an open question. In this sense, artistic humility is a form of cultural ecology: it subtracts noise from the system, restores space for thought, and allows what communicative saturation normally suffocates to emerge. It is not a matter of style or temperament, but of an ethical choice regarding the function of art in contemporary society.

Bibliography:

John Cage, Silence, Il Saggiatore, Milan 2019 – on art as a practice of non-control and acceptance of the indeterminate Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art. Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field, Il Saggiatore, Milan 2005 – critical analysis of power mechanisms in the artistic field Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Einaudi – fundamental for understanding art and technology Richard Sennett, The Craftsman, Feltrinelli, Milan 2008 – on the humility of technical practice and the relationship with materials Byung-Chul Han, The Salvation of the Beautiful, Nottetempo, Milan 2019 – against the spectacularization of art in contemporary society Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Astrolabio-Ubaldini, Rome 1976 – on the concept of "shoshin" (beginner's mind) and humility as a constant openness to learning Leonard Koren, Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers, Ponte alle Grazie, Milan 2002 – on the Japanese aesthetic of imperfection and transience as a form of humble beauty Junichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows, Bompiani, Milan 1982 – on subtraction as an aesthetic principle and the elegance of hiding instead of showing

Credits:

I thank A.A. for the inspiration for this article.