The Curse of Being an Artist in a Capitalist Hellscape
They want your art, but they don’t want to pay for it
Most of us love art in some form, but don’t always want to pay for what it’s worth. Unfortunately, unless people are buying expensive tickets to the royal ballet, most artists tend to be near the bottom of the pile of priorities.
As this research points out, “visual arts (is) an arts sector that doesn’t always get the same attention as others, especially when talking about economic impacts.” That leaves a lot of starving (or at least struggling) visual artists and writers, who compete with machines that output pretty pictures used by big companies like Coca Cola in ad campaigns.
Art school quietly told me to run away
I have been creating stuff since I was a kid. Whether drawing, taking photos, or trying to play guitar, I have a creative gene in me somewhere—likely from my mother’s side. Anyways, I knew I wanted to be an artist of some kind when I grew up. And I am.
Well, sort of.
Like many young, dream-driven people, I attended art school at 19. It was an eye-opening experience in many ways.
One of them was that making meaningful art is actually really hard, and not just for fun. We had to learn brush techniques and colour theory and how to render perspective without the use of a computer. (Yes, it was during the 1990’s. I’m old.)
We were told by the art teachers—some who put their own creative aspirations on hold in order to earn a living—that many of us would not become commercially successful. I realize now it was their way of saying, “This career path isn’t for you. Be an insurance broker or something instead.
…But hey, love your work. Keep creating.”
My portfolio from my first year there didn’t earn me a place in a fine arts program. I should’ve taken the hint then that art would be an uphill battle for me. But it’s one a hill I’m willing to die on.
Art careers and capitalism aren’t friends
I’m glad I kept creating over the years despite being only modestly successful. Without my commissioned writing, I would probably be living in my parent’s basement.
I like my clients and the work I do for them (well, before ChatGPT stole most of my assignments), but I write my own stuff to satisfy my primal urge to create without any restraints or deadlines. That to me is having true freedom—which is what more “stable” careers promise.
It should be possible for artists to lead a sustainable life while utilizing the skills they were given. In my case, it’s creating visual art and articles. It’s what I was born to do, because I keep coming back to these things between corporate gigs.
No thanks to our capitalist system that rewards wealth generation alone, artists get left behind in the grand scheme. We collectively undervalue most artists—at least while they’re still alive. Many great artists don’t hit the big time until they’re dead.
Even in this case, it’s mainly rich people collecting their art as an investment for themselves, not the artists. If the dead artist suddenly sprung back to life, I doubt these collectors would throw money at their newest works. They would probably be angry the value of their posthumous works have gone down.
Society often categorizes creators as people who can’t get a real job. We love to romanticize starving artists that live day-to-day on almost nothing, fighting their internal demons to satisfy our viewing pleasure.
Don’t even get me started on how people claim to support artists, but have never paid for art in their lives. Maybe they think a “like” on social media is real support. I keep trying to buy groceries with likes, but the stores stubbornly refuse.
We love it when our friends become successful
Many talented artists never get their big break. That’s partly because monetary success and fame is not what many artists are striving for.
Unfortunately, in a capitalist framework, you either sink or swim. Some of the most artistically gifted people I know had to give up their dreams to take on some kind of steady work they didn’t love, like digging post holes or cleaning septic tanks.
There’s nothing wrong with choosing a path that will earn a good living. But if you’re an artist deep down, ignoring your true calling will slowly kill you. You might not even want to do art on the side or as a hobby anymore, as 9 to 5 work can be a killer of inspiration (speaking from experience.)
My friends, let me tell you, there are few things sadder than creativity being buried under the monotony of a routine occupation.
Some artists I know have made a name for themselves, and seem to be paying the bills with their specific artistic talents. I’m always happy to see artists I like gain some mainstream recognition, but it seems to be getting progressively rarer.
Put your money where your mouth is
I remind myself that the real payoff in art is showing others our inner world to hopefully inspire them.
Don’t get me wrong, I take photos and write to make some money too, but it’s not usually enough to keep the lights on. Thankfully, my partner’s business keeps us going, but not everyone has that luxury (thanks, honey!).
It’s a shame that some of the most inspiring and talented people are punished for the crime of being born an artist in a world that values profit above human expression. They might not get a chance to show the world how good they are, because they need a desk job to pay rent.
The bottom line is, our society does not reward many artists very well, despite art being an important part of most peoples’ lives. People demand the next great painting or song, but may not ever contribute a penny.
Maybe consider all this the next time a story or painting or a song makes you feel happy inside. If you really want to show writers/artists/musicians some gratitude, you can buy more of their art, which will make them feel happy inside too. And they’ll be able to afford lunch.
You can also pay to subscribe to this publication, which will help support artists and writers each month directly from your gesture of appreciation!
An earlier version of this article appeared on Medium.