In answer to Ralph, but actually directed to everyone
Then let me ask you the question, I really need the answer to:
Is it true, in your experience as a gallery owner, that some artist can be perfectly happy, creating art purely for themselves?
I am not a gallery owner, but I am the child of an avid oil painter.
Was my mother successful? She won many regional awards at shows, and she had quite a number of people beg pictures from her. And she gave quite a few paintings to family and friends. And she had more than one regional write up in news papers. Locally she was considered quite an excellent artist. You can decide if that's "successful" of not.
My mother did one - and only one - paid portrait setting for a customer. Afterward she swore that she would never take another dime for a painting. She wasn't happy with the customer being in charge, so she refused customers.
So, yes, my mother created art purely for herself, and she supported herself working in a government office. Her art was self expression exactly like cave paintings. They had no customers either. They just "had to do it."
My images are basically the same philosophy, although they're silver based rather than oil painting. True, I try to make pictures of family gatherings that make my family members happy, but I don't sell artwork. (I don't win awards either! Drat!)
But further critical thinking on your question makes me wonder; if the observers weren't there, would the artist still do the work? Can you reevaluate the concept of "customer" to include the emotional satisfaction derived from some other person's appreciation of the work. Specifically, would the artist still create the work if it was never to see the light of day, remaining forever unobserved and not exhibited?
I think the answer is yes, but the level of detail and finish in the works will suffer. The prospect of exhibition compels most artists to put more effort into the details than they would be likely to do once the concept has been presented.
Specifically, my perception of the "artistic" personality is that the compulsion is to express a concept, and once that concept is expressed the artistic "spark" is satisfied. And without the prospect of exhibition the work would be finished at this point.
But the prospect of exhibition to other observers compels the artist to put more work into the details of the "fit and finish" so to speak. Which, in fact, improves the quality of the work.
MB