Expectation is dogmatic (Baby boy’s clothes should be blue - Pineapple doesn’t belong on Pizza). It is the ruler wielding Sister patrolling the desks at St.Marks, ready to smite any curious mind that dares draw outside the lines.

However, our collective expectation - manifested by art critics, Rotten Tomato scores, Instagram likes, Facebook shares, YELP reviews, Uber stars, and old ladies commissioning pet portraits - is a fickle traitor. Even the greatest works ever conceived were not spared from its manipulations.

As Monet’s first paintings arrived at the threshold of public perception, expectation-armed critics condemned his blithe, brushy style as ‘radical’ in contrast with the staunch Neoclassicism of the 19th century. Fifty years later, critics labeled his culminating Water Lilies that center the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris as dull and cliched… Today, that final work is referred to as the Sistine Chapel of Impressionism.

Picasso’s early works were described as satanic and schizophrenic. The MoMA rejected Warhol. Van Gogh was declared amateur. Austrian architect Eduard Van der Null hung himself after public reaction to his Vienna State Opera House in the 1940s. Years later, after the stage had been bombarded by American WWII air raids, it was one of the few structures the Viennese elected to restore instead of redesign.

Be who you want and say what you mean. Detach yourself from any expectations of reaction.