Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honest intellectual sparring over art comes in the form of art. Saying "I could have made that" is false in the context of art. If a person could have they would have. If they didn't, they can't. The proof is in the work.
That's ridiculous. Every artist has to make choices -- they can't pursue every avenue of creative development. Not everyone brings all their potentials to fruition. Opportunity costs. To say "unless you have already done x, you cannot do x" is a mind-bogglingly wrong perspective to take. Many people are capable of coming up with, for example, witty, plausible conceptual art ideas. Generally they don't pursue it becau…
The professional artists I know aren't famous. They don't persuade people. Sometimes they do what they do. Sometimes they make things they think people will like. Sometimes they make works on commission. They make a living at art, but it is something they were doing before making a living at art and had ordinary day jobs. As professionals artists their day job looks a lot like other day jobs in that they work a lot of hours and have to deal with paperwork and order supplies and collect money from customers.