Art is in a very odd state right now. There are more artists than ever; websites like DeviantArt.com have thousands of members with hundreds of new prints available every day. Yet if you asked a random person off the street to name a living artist: they can’t.
Every now and then you will find someone who can name someone; Damien Hirst for example: but most people don’t pay attention to art, or even more importantly, artists.
So why do more people enter this field? Why do more people want the frustration of being ignored? The pain of being another face in the crowd? The reality of being “normal” in a field that prides itself on uniqueness, when actually being involved in it at all seems to be the norm these days.
For me, I make a living in the commercial side of art. Making posters, cup designs, flyers, billboards, and other items for a franchising company. However some artists consider this “selling out.” These are artists I’ve met in college classes who have never made a dime off of their art and are usually house wives or teenagers, but consider me a sell out for working for “the man.”
They hold on to the belief that they will be the next Da Vinci. That their photo of their cat ran through a filter in Photoshop will be loved by many. But love doesn’t pay the bills and I can tell you, I have never been in an empty college art class, nor have I seen the same people twice.
I relate to them though. Because of my work, my online portfolios on empty because my work is technically owned by the company I work for. I work Monday through Friday, usually 7:30AM-5PM, so I make dozens of pieces a week. Yet my portfolios online haven’t been updated in months. I have permission to post my art from work on there, I just haven’t. I don’t know why, I have legal permission and permission from the owner of the company. I just don’t want to risk upsetting anyone I suppose.
But when you are “freelance” or “independent,” you can make that a stipulation of your work; that you have the right to display whatever you make online, as your work.
But can there really be a demand for this many artists? Does the world need so many artists? Where is all of this art going?!
To find out, we went to the streets! (Not really, I just always wanted to say that. Those news reporters sound so official saying that right before interviewing some homeless guy about what he thinks of a bridge…)
My tattoo artist (Maverick at Cool Ink, check him out) told me in April of last year, who told me that probably 70% of the people he inks claim to be some kind of artist. When he found out what I did, he remarked “Oh, you’re a real artist. You actually pay the bills with your art, not some cunt of a house wife with a hobby.”
More important than what is the point of all of these artists is, why don’t people pay attention to art anymore? Is art seen as a lost art (pardon the pun)? A relic of the past?
Some people believe iPods are to blame. While I don’t think that is true; an iPod is just a marketing term for a hard drive with software on it to play MP3’s (iRiver > iPod anyways) it is an interesting perspective.
Society has almost adapted the Pokemon “collect ‘em all” philosophy for everything. Get the fastest car, the biggest house, the most music on your iPod and phone, the biggest iPod, the newest phone, the newest cell phone, and in collecting all of these multiple devices that all do multiple things, can one really appreciate something like art that just… sits there?
Some people on DeviantArt.com charge as much for a simple print when for the same amount of money you could buy an Xbox 360.
Kill space marines online with people from around the world, or look at the same thing every day, all day, that never changes? Art can’t really compete with that (unless it is Starry Night… I have a soft spot for that…)
So what do we do? Do we devalue ourselves? Sell ourselves for less than we are worth? Can an artist be expected to make a living if his work is being sold for the price of a Pepsi?
Of course not, and I don’t have all of the answers nor will I ever claim to. But this is written for everyone; artists and you boring people:
The next time you have the opportunity to buy art, think about how far the art world has fallen. Think about how you can contribute to it by just supporting any of your local artists (sorry DeviantArt.com but I would always support a local, struggling artist than a faceless artist on a website who gets 400,000 page views a day along with 30 virtual blow jobs per hour.).
And the next time you artists try to sell your art online for insane prices: …come on. If someone can buy a next-generation gaming system instead of your painting, albeit a beautiful painting of a vampire, they probably will. You have to think of other people before greed and even necessity. A $20 painting is likely to sell more with the logic of “Wow, a great painting for only $20!” than selling 1 painting for $400.
Greed is the downfall of all beasts.
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