Do artists serve themselves? Or others?

[Ray711]

I think if you're doing it for the love of the art, that is good enough. People can tell.

I agree. Love can be manifested towards material things too, not just people. And to add to that, an artist is rearranging parts of the Creation to create beauty. I imagine it would depend a lot on whether the feelings and ideas being expressed in the art belonged to one polarity or the other, but a sincere inclination towards beauty and truth also seems to polarize us positively, as stated here by Ra:

34.17 Questioner: Is it possible for you to use as an example our General Patton and tell me the effect that war had on him in his development?

Ra: I am Ra. This will be the last full question of this working. The one of whom you speak, known as George, was one in whom the programming of previous incarnations had created a pattern or inertia which was irresistible in its incarnation in your time/space. This entity was of a strong yellow-ray activation with frequent green-ray openings and occasional blue-ray openings. However, it did not find itself able to break the mold of previous traumatic experiences of a bellicose nature.
This entity polarized somewhat towards the positive in its incarnation due to its singleness of belief in truth and beauty. This entity was quite sensitive. It felt a great honor/duty to the preservation of that which was felt by the entity to be true, beautiful, and in need of defense. This entity perceived itself as a gallant figure. It polarized somewhat towards the negative in its lack of understanding the green ray it carried with it, rejecting the forgiveness principle which is implicit in universal love.
The sum total of this incarnation vibrationally was a slight increase in positive polarity but a decrease in harvestability due to the rejection of the Law or Way of Responsibility; that is, seeing universal love, yet still it fought on.