Carlos Fentanes

“Dear Carlos Fentanes, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for entering this year’s International Artist Awards. We are pleased to inform you that your artwork has been shortlisted at this stage. Congratulations!”

Every now and then, I get a message like this. It’s official—I’m an artist! A little thrill. A touch of validation. And then… nothing. It’s funny how these things work. One day, you’re shortlisted, feeling like you’ve arrived, and the next, you’re back in the studio, grinding away, waiting for that next thing to land. But most of the time, I’m not at the top of the world or at the bottom—I’m just here, working. Just making art.

I’m grateful for these emails. They lift you, even if for a moment. But by the time I see them, it’s already been a year since I finished the piece. Two years since I started. In this fast-paced world, where everything seems to move in hyperspeed, it feels like the work I did is already old news.

Sometimes I forget about the submissions completely, and then suddenly, I’ll check my calendar, and there it is: another waiting game for the results of an art prize. There are times when the same piece gets accepted to multiple shows, or it sells just as someone wants to exhibit it. The timing’s always out of sync.

But this is the life, isn’t it? The goal is always to share the work, to get it out into the world. So when these congratulatory letters arrive, I’m happy. I just don’t get my hopes up too high anymore. If you expect disappointment, you’ll never be disappointed—someone said that once. It feels true enough (Hint: It was MJ in “Spiderman: No Way Home”).

What’s next, then? I guess the answer is always the same: just keep working. It reminds me of that scene from Tick, Tick… Boom!, when Jonathan Larson finishes Superbia and waits for his big break. His agent tells him, “You start the next one. And after that, the next. You keep throwing them at the wall, hoping something sticks.”

That’s being an artist, right? Just keep going. Keep creating. Keep working. Congratulations—you’re now officially an artist!