The three artistic roads of doom.

Another way…... accept that “artist” is a job like any other, involving tedium and compromise, but also (importantly) expanding and practicing our artistic skills base. Then in whatever time we can salvage from the demands of paying the bills, we get to create the things that really matter to us. So when our name becomes known as a consequence of our marketing, due diligence to exposure, selling works that match the couch, and the winning of ever more well known awards we are well placed to capitalise on our skills and vision, and spend all our time on the important works that will truly enrich the world. It’s a hard road, but hey, art chose US. Did we ever actually have a choice in the matter???

art is a higher calling…
much food for thought here… thanks samuel…

Yes Melodious, art is a higher calling. So why has a system evolved that means artists, who train with as much intensity as doctors, lawyers etc, have so little hope of making even an average wage? In a society that reveres and elevates art itself, its struggling creators are rarely rewarded in life. Seems to be accepted wisdom that poverty and angst are vital ingredients. What crap.

You paint a bleak picture Sam but I recognise the truth in your words – I have been down all three of your roads all leading to to a point where I didn’t want to be there and turned around a trudged all the way back to begin again.

there is a lot of truth here
the other day i salvaged some unsigned paintings from a skip, and it made me think about where the person who painted them thought they would end up
on the other hand painting, and viewing other peoples paintings, can open you up to new concepts and discussions…also it can be therapeutic regardless of wether it ends up in the bin or not….but then i have another source of income, so i don’t have to paint well (as in technically correct) or to other peoples tastes
otherwise i kind of agree with Deb’s first comment

As bleak as all these roads maybe, they’re all appeal to me a great deal more than not being an artist at all.

ha ha!!! Samuel. Ain’t that the truth though- the simple fact is that for us, making art is as neccessary as breathing, and the world is a richer place as a result of our efforts. I think we probably qualify as special needs and there should be government funded financial support for us. Being born an artist is definitely a mental illness.

I reckon you just have to marry someone rich so that you don’t have to worry and then the journey isn’t so stressful! Wish I’d done it that way…... Seriously, though, I agree with the comments here: if you have to do it, you have to do it and how it turns out is almost secondary.

If i’d gone to the right collage maybe I would have taken path 1

if I’d married someone rich maybe I’d have taken path 3

I didn’t do either so I’m going along path 2

Me too, for now. It’s the only one of the 3 that lets you have some kind of integrity, and at least the harder you work the greater the result. Not so with the other ways- you would be dependent on some fools reaction to your souls outpouring. No thank you.

Thank you for sharing this, Samuel. It helped me to keep things in perspective. Much to think about…

Hey there Samuel….........yeah I got a grant, and since then have been doing my best to avoid the outcome! Funny thing – it was what I wanted, but then inspiration moves so fast, I found the criteria done before I completed the work. So I decide to do it my way anyway. I’ve spent all THEIR cash, and I’ve done most of the work, but the ‘talk’ of my paintings/collage is now about Indigenous people and spiritual values – not at all the investigation into First Settlement in Queensland, which i squirmed around to get the cash.
But ah sooo good to go to the art store and buy EVERYTHING!!!
I used to sell lots when I was fascinated with the techniques of watercolour, but now?? I paint whatever I want when I can, but I am on a disability pension for a little artistic ‘madness’.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t – hey?!

It’s financally tough being an artist. You have to have passion & a need to express your inner emotions. I prayer you make sales.

having passion and need is all very well – I have that by the bucket load. but when it comes to selling my artwork I find I fall by the wayside am lost in the jungle of other artists striving to make a living from their work also. I have reached the point where I think – “what is the point?” “why am I doing this?” as I stumble from unsuccessful show to unsuccessful exhibition. I have no “hook”, I am not a painter of warped and broken line, just a traditionalist lost in an abstract world.

I have never been lucky to follow the first path. I trudge blindly and hope-lessly along the second and the third has never been an option. Why should I paint my heart and soul into a canvas only to lose more than 50% of it to some person who hangs it on their wall and shines a spotlight onto it? When they sell, my paintings sell because someone looks at it and says: Oh God I LOVE that! I WANT that! I MUST HAVE that! Its BEAUTIFUL!

Anyway Ive ranted enough on your entry, I’ll shut up now and crawl back into my head…. :):)

OOPs forgot to mention just how much I enjoy your work!!!

Well i must admit that i just sell to the public, who god bless them just base the decision to buy simply on like or dislike. One happy soul even told me that my painting would hang with pride in the bathroom. I am sure the family must spent many happy hours on the toilet looking up at that painting. I would still rather paint for the man in the street than any arty farty art critic, after all not every painting has to have deep meaning to be of merit. You can just paint for the joy of it.

Nicely written Samuel. I am option three with the exception to “Galleries taking hanging fees for the work they know won’t sell, yet the fees pay their rent and gives the gallery a bohemian feel.” I paint not for the money but for myself because it is a part of who I am… well mostly. :-) I would not choose artist as a career unless I have the luxury of doing so. It is a financially difficult road for most.

I never put work in a gallery that wants a hanging fee. I simply ask them if they sell work, when they say yes, which they all do, i then ask if they think that i would be able to sell from the gallery, they always answer yes, and thats when i say that surely no fee will be required because they can gain on commission. The ones that stand back i dismisss and the ones that say o,k, i use. After all you will always get a more realistic appraisal from a gallery that only earns if it sells than from one who earns no matter what. P,s, one of the best ways i have found to sell is to hang work in coffie shops, you just need the brass neck to ask and believe me these places can get more people in then a good many galleries, and am glad of the commission which is often very low compared to galleries.

This is exactly why I say I have to paint for me. I refuse to have a break down over the thing I love the most. If I have to have a day job then so be it but I won’t lose my sanity, my sleep, my home trying to cater to or chase after the wind. I’d rather be in group three, keep my first love and my dignity. Do I need fame to paint? I don’t, but I do need money. I suppose the artists goals will make a difference in how comfortable they feel with where they fall in these three categories.

.... well written entry ….

A good mate of mine has managed a good balance by working part time and painting and selling. Of intrest is the fact that he sells more on the net than in galleries now. Still it is better to be a well fed electriction than a starving artist. threre is no virtue in being hungry, excuse me i have to go, my pork chops are going cold.

A daunting prospect for any artist, but alas we have to find which path suits best…

Mx