If the art world is all sound and fury, what about the quiet artist whose work speaks for itself?

Today, the more outspoken an artist is, the more he is considered brilliant and valuable. But a true artist doesn’t need to exist through immature rhetoric. An artist doesn’t need to say anything. It is his work that must be outspoken, that must tell the stories.

Sadly, the art world makes fun of the artist whose work speaks for itself. It craves the “new normal” artist who, loud and proud, advertises himself, aware that a product becomes successful if it keeps making noise.

China second-biggest art market in 2017 on back of rise in billionaires

The bigger the ego, the more certain we are of our greatness, marketing ourselves as unique, whether artists or not. Why bother with an artist filled with talent and therefore no ego? And who cares?

But people do care and prove it by going in hordes to exhibitions of artists who were ignored in their time, and by not going to exhibitions of the egos of the moment.

Is there any room for the quiet artist today? No, unless a reset is looming. Why would those who thrive on smokescreens not buy a smokescreener? The art bubble is fuelled by smoke, it is king. The fools are those of us smiling and waiting for it to abdicate.

John Dassieu, New York City