Painting From Life vs. From Photos
To be an artist today is to confront continual uncertainty. There is economic uncertainty, and also uncertainty of purpose. Modern society seems to value art — art is preserved in museums, and purchased for large sums by “collectors.” And yet the normal artist is strangely disconnected from the top levels of success. Compare this with other professions. A competent pilot, trained at a good flight school, is more or less assured of a successful career. He or she might not get the opportunity to fly the biggest and newest commercial planes, or fancy jet fighters; but a stable career is a reasonable expectation, certainly compared to what an artist can hope for.
The profession of art has not always been so uncertain. For example, Cennino Cennini discusses the motivations of those entering the profession in the 14th c. “There are those who pursue it” he writes, “because of poverty and domestic need.” In 17th c. Holland, parents would encourage a talented son to pursue art as a profitable and respectable occupation. Nowadays, “poverty and domestic need” would better describe the results of becoming an artist, rather than causes for becoming one.
There is far more wealth in the world today to purchase art than in any time past. The difficult position of artist today is therefore something of a mystery.
If there is a general appreciation of art, and money to buy art, then why is it so difficult to fulfill the role of artist?
________
Related:
Is art school worthless?
Fall of the Art World
Dear Karl Zipser I love this post and thanks for mention this true reality. Nowadays people are born with lots of different talents and more intelligent than ever. There is a lot of competition out there and most important of it; almost anyone can be an artist nowadays. There is so much choice and such little opportunities that leave us all pursuing the same more or less goals. Well but reflecting on it, what of this two would really fulfil the goal of an artist: a profitable occupation or talent recognition?
Hi Angela,
I’ve been thinking about the question “why is it so difficult to be an artist?” for awhile now, but I confess that the answer “because of competition from other artists” never occurred to me. You might be right, and I will think about this some more. My initial response is that I find competition good. When I see a contemporary artist doing something special, I feel inspired rather than threatened. Perhaps I am naive. But remember, in the Renaissance artists often worked in fierce competition with each other. Sometimes patrons would hire artists to work on different parts of a project — in essence, a competition to find the best one. The competition seemed to help, or at least did not spoil, the artistic work.
Angela, KArl,
Is it possible that the internet has hurt rather then helped artists? Maybe competition is now worse because art buyers can have endless choices at the tip of their fingers. Anyone with a little computer savy can get their art out to a large audience. Even if they only create art part time or as a hobby.
Jordan, it seems to me that buyers can decide what they think is good. If the internet lets a hobby painter show his or her work, and that work is great, then that seems like a benefit to me. If the professional artists feel the heat of competition, then they will strive to improve.
Monopoly is more dangerous than competition. Monopoly can come when a small group can decide “what is art”. Art dealers and museum curators have this sort of power because they control exhibition space. The internet would seem to offer an alternative by providing more exhibition space. On the whole, I see the internet as a plus for this reason.
What kind of artist?
If the artist simply wants to make money with no celebrity, he or she needs to figure out how to generate and market a large volume of salable decorator art. Of course, there is a necessity to be good, as well as fast, at making this, um, art.
If the artist wants to get into art history texts, this is an intricate matter. If this is the goal, it would be ideal to get the interest of a well regarded art critic who writes for an important paper or magazine. Meantime, the artist should be liked by _The_ hot gallery. Being liked is very important. The artist should have some sort of special distinction. It could be anything — there is no specific distinction that assures an artist’s likability. He or she could be an ‘enfant terrible’ or a country bumpkin without culture. He or she might be the first to work in some niche never before explored in art’s definition. The artist might become a lightning rod for events beyond his or her control. The list is endless, but it is like courtship: A discerning female chooses her mate for traits her suitors have little control over. Back to art — The work should be marketable to High Art collectors in some way. It is best to find a companion who does the marketing. Companions don’t try to get paid for their time. They simply share in the rewards. Companions take care of the nasty business of promotion. Any artist who ‘praises’ him or herself to important galleries and museums will be snubbed for being ego driven. A likable and well informed praiser is very effective, however. This is why having a good critic on the artist’s side is so important. Having a circle of supporters is good, but if that crowd is isolated to the wrong town in the wrong time, all buzz will fizzle. There must be primary contacts with the best galleries, museums and journalists at all times. Little opportunities missed are the death of great potential.
Artists should not be blamed for the collapse of artist support networks. IMHO: Critics (erudite, yet trendy writers with good pub’s) play a huge role in where the attention goes.
Good question, Zip. Back in the days of Rembrandt there was better reason to hold artists in high regard. A good colored picture of the prominent figures of the day was likely to be seen as almost miraculous, considering that graphically, that was the only game in town. No photography, no TV, no magazines, printing in a primitive state and the need for daily hard work to produce the basic necessities of life. Who had time to spend on art work even if the skills had been there, not to mention the paints and pigments ?
Today, the artist’s work is just one of a dozen graphic technologies; one of the most labor intensive and therefore one of the most expensive. Using technology to multiply his output lowers the value of his work in the eyes of most potential buyers. Part of the problems artists have to deal with is the totally mindless commercialism which puts the art world beyond logic, reason or even common sense. It’s amazing to me that someone like an Ansel Adams has made a reputation for himself which translates into fat prices for mere copies of his work.
The work is fine. No argument there. But what did Adams do? Found our most scenic vistas and pushed a button ! I admire him, not for his artistry, but for his keen judgement in spotting an unfilled demand for nice BIG pictures. All of it backed up by a massive promotional effort. And VERY little talent.
Now consider the case of George Eastman who built Kodak and brought photography to the masses. Feeling he had done all he could, he enjoyed a final dinner with friends and family, said good night, then went up to his bedroom and put a bullet through his head. George Eastman was a genius. Ansel Adams was not. Commercialism recognizes no rules of logic, fairness or talent. Two feet away from a million dollar diamond no one could tell it from a cubic zirconia. Four feet away no one could tell it from a piece of glass. The entire diamond industry is locked up in the hands of a few big dealers running a cartel which (if God exists) may one day land them in jail. It’s an industry that thrives on gullibility and stupidity, not unlike the world of fine art you wish to join.
I think a good part of the problem which artists face today, in addition, of course, to the variety of graphic stuff he has to compete with, is a growing realization on the part of the public that the field of fine art is, in many ways, as phony and as corrupt as a three dollar bill. It’s a field that would excite the envy of robber barons of any generation. Perhaps our own generation in PARTICULAR ! No one needs to be told that a canvas drizzled with paint that sells for seven figures involves a shady game that most people do not want to play, run by fakes and frauds and aimed at separating the unwary from their cash.
Summing up, I have to admire your sand and gravel for becoming an artist. But I think you’d probably make more money selling body parts under the table at the local county morgue. Certainly you’d be involved with a nicer class of people in a more respectable enterprise.) Good luck.
Regards. Bill
(cross-posted from Google art discussion group)
Um, guys…Rembrandt died broke. I think it’s always been hard to be an artist.
From Wikipedia:
“Rembrandt lived beyond his means, buying many art pieces and especially prints (often used in his paintings), and rarities, which probably caused his bankruptcy in 1656. He had to sell his house and move to a more modest accommodation on the Rozengracht. Here, Hendrickje and Titus started an art shop to make ends meet. However, Rembrandt’s fame did not wane in these years, since he received an important commission for a large history piece for the newly built city hall.
“Rembrandt outlived both Hendrickje and Titus. In the end, only his daughter Cornelia was at his side. The bereaving death of his much beloved son took heavy toll on Rembrandt and soon after that he died October 4, 1669 in Amsterdam and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Westerkerk.”
Karl,
I think competition is great in an efficient market. The problem is the internet creates an inefficient market. People get overwhelmed with choices and buy what they find first, second, or even on the 100th web page they see. But there are thousands of other sites (artists) with better art that are never examined because of shear mass. Did this happen before the internet? Ofcourse! Galleries could try to weed out what is good and what is bad but also that is artificial!
I think it’s all about marketing yourself and being a business. A lot of average artists make much more than any pilot could ever make in a year, because they know how to market themselves.
Any artist that sits in his studio waiting to be discovered will be waiting for a long time, regardless of how talented he is.
I remember a teacher at uni told me I should do a business and marketing course after art school, and I laughed at her. But now I wish I listened. I think she was on to something.
art news blog, I think also that one should market himself. And in my case I think that is my weakest point. One thinks that because one is not discovered one is not good enough, but from this blog I understand now that that is what one should do. And that is what galleries do for you if they are a good gallery
In Amsterdam I did a MEMO training which included learning about some ideas of marketing: talk with gallery-owners, make friends with them find out what they want and like. You don’t even have to show your work — better not — just talk make, them curious. and that is not to start doing what they want but fiend the gallery that you like the best for your work so that you can work good together.
Being commercial doesn’t necessarily include that you make art of doubful quality.
It is a lot of work. An artist is always rather in his or her studio but I think marketing is really important. You have to go from your inside world to the outside world, Scary! Or not? What are your experiences?
How can any one living in the developed world. with enough money & free time to waste it dicking around with a website and on [an art discussion group], in anyway consider their life or even their work “hard”. ? Living in Iraq would be hard, farming in Sudan would be hard, having a degenerative painful disease would be hard. But for artists to pretend to be in the same boat is just self-involved nonsense. Certainly it was true prior to the 1900’s ( when no sales amounted to starvation), or for those who had to face down a Stalin or a Hitler or a Mao, but now? just suck it up and quit yer whining….
CB
(cross-posted from Google fine art discussion group)
It has been easy and difficult to become an artist because my work speaks for me, communicating intense emotions that create beauty and depth beyond my own comprehension! My east-west faces and art subjects, whatever they happen to be at any moment are my friends and I wouldn’t know what to do with my Life if they did not keep me company. Yes, total self-absorption.
I confess that the answer “because of competition from other artists” never occurred to me… My initial response is that I find competition good.
Karl, I realize you posted this back in April, but since I just discovered your blog today I thought I’d put in my two cents.
There are different types of competition, and I think some are better than others. When people are competing on the basis of skill, talent or achievement, competition is a good thing. It motivates them to achieve more.
But the type of competition that exists now in the artworld is more like drivers competing for parking spaces. Now that it’s considered fashionable to be an artist (it wasn’t always), everybody’s an artist. There are millions of artists trying to park their work in a few galleries. I never feel like I’m competing w/ the quality of other individual artists’ work – I’m competing w/ their shear quantity.
PS Is there a way on blogs the have the date of a comment listed along w/ the time? It’s hard to tell whether all these comments came the day of your post, or over a period of time.
David,
Your comment of 6 October is a welcome addition to this discussion, which generated a lot of comments within a day or so of the original post. I will look into the comment date question. It might be possible to display the dates.
Some interesting points have been made here. Sometimes the artist creates their own difficulties.
An artist can be mediocre, yet if the art is marketed well, they stand to be successful.
I do find that if people love your work, they will buy it. It is a matter of getting it out there.
Some artists have died broke, but so have others who are not artists.
I do not discount the difficulty. I have been experiencing it myself, and am trying to work through the things that are holding me back from being successful.
“Art & Fear” is an interesting read.
First, I don’t think it’s difficult to be an artist.
Second, Art training today is no longer done the way it used to be where it was, “You will take this seriously and work hard to make it as a pro, or you’ll be gone from this studio.”
It’s easier to fill and keep classes when the hard line approach is dropped.
Result: Legions of dilettante know it alls (about 8,000 MFA’s a year) who can’t draw or paint worth snot.
Obnoxious enough for you Karl?
Rex,
Point #2 agrees with my impression of what is happening at the Michigan State Dept. of Art.
During a Summer Arts Program in Interlochen, MI, Sarah, a young woman, painted self-portraits that struck me as highly original. Now, taking art courses at Michigan State, she has lost interest in painting. She complains that art teachers compliment students for throwing paint on a canvas.
Viewing the many paintings lent by our Art Profs for the decoration of our elegant new ‘Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building’, makes me think that she is right. The paintings are colorful and dull.
It may be good that they are so dull. No one is tempted to steal them.
[This comment is from 4 December; It got posted to the old A&P site –Karl]
Thank you for the good article. The question “Why is it so difficult to be an artist?” is indeed worthy the digging. You very well compared the artist with the pilot and pictured the uncertainty of the profession of art.
I have looked at myself and…The more we will concretize the situation that an artist faces today, the gloomier it will become. So to say it is the real “To be or not to be”.
However, that ambiguity will vanish immediately in case we choose to rewrite our question. Why is it so difficult to remain a man today?
While the pilot drives just a car, the artist deals with the symbols, with the comprehension of the light. The artists act as priests in some sense. Therefore we encounter not the difference in the wages there, but the conflict between human flesh and spirit- the eternal striving to reach the harmony.
Art is old technology. Photography and modern reproduction methods have robbed it of both any empirical measure of its worth, its rarity or any utility it may have had. It is now a word of subjective meaning whose only real value is in who it entertains. Given the wealth of other entertainment media competing for the same eyeballs, its devaluation is inevitable.
Great article, now to the point, I think art is no longer what it once was, it used to be our important pictorial memoirs, spiritual elevations, and an important part of our old technology to record and memorialize particular individuals, places and events. But now, we got cameras, millions of cameras, who needs to buy a piece of splashed paint on a piece of cloth anymore.
Art now has to compete with instant cameras, and I don’t think it will win, for it is not instant and it costs more. This world is going insane with its speed, our value of life has been thoroughly brainwashed to chase instant gratifications.
We value video game as art now. We watch Gossip Girls and deem it as art. Art has lost its identity and less and less people are educated to appreciate it. I agreed with Barry, I am sadly beginning to see that with the cultural and spiritual decline, so goes with art, as it is being continually devalued and demeaned into consumable and reproduceable “products” categories. So if you want high art, just go to the T.J. Max and Target and pick up your “high art” piece for your bathroom wall……
Hi everyone… (forgive my English, it is not my first tongue!)
First I have to congratulate Karl for such intriguing question that should capt the attention of all of us, artists and attempting artists…
I must agree with almost all of you, because your answers reflect somehow a summarized view of the reality we’re facing nowadays… First of all… happens not only with art, but with almost every career, that you have to be patient, disciplined and very methodic in order to “get somewhere” with anything you are attempting to do. You will succeed at this if you truly like what you do.
I’m a 25 years old architect from a 3rd world country (Dominican Republic), a place that doesn’t values anything that comes across art in any of its variants,… including Architecture. I made the mistake of taking this as a career thinking that I was (naively) mixing art into a more accepted career which would lead me to economic success doing something I thought I would enjoy… So far, I haven’t been enjoying this that much, except for a couple of projects I’ve done for my self, and I’ve only been lucky enough to be just an employee doing CAD drawings and other stuff that are not fitting into the “success” I was hopping from this career… and I can say the same about my friends, contemporary colleagues’… Part if this fail is given to the lack of motivation I’ve had, and the eternal dislikes I’ve had regarding to architecture, but most of all… because I’ve not be willing to “follow the steps” I’m suppose to follow towards becoming a “successful independent” architect, even when I know exactly what is it that I have to do to start “getting there”.
To be recognized and successful, I believe it is not possible to start right from the beginning doing what you like, concretizing your desires in your first attempts. First you have to follow a series of steps in order to, slowly, start placing yourself one step ahead with every little opportunity until you have enough experience that allows you to choose and do what you please.
I’ve decided to study Art, which is my true passion, and now that I face these doubts I understand that economic wealth is an upcoming consecuense of well-took steps when attempting to become an artist of profession. The problem is, in the Art Business, these steps are not clear enough for young out coming artist, which causes confussion and fear, that frighten us to the point of reclusion inside the safety of our studios, taking a more profitable occupation to sustain our art, or taking it just as a “hobby”more than a serious career. All of this because it is written in our brains that “art is NOT a way of living”…
The firsts ones that should give this profession the respect it deserves, are ourselves, not our parents, not society, we are. Art is a gift, then it’s an habillity, then it’s an occupation, therefore it’s a profession in all its meaning…
It is true that we are “fortunate” to be given this hability, but we should get down to earth when it comes to make it a proffesion. We artist believe we’re undiscovered, misunderstood geniuses starving to be recognized as soon as we pop out art school, when the truth is, we are no different from other professionals, occupationally speaking… we have the wonderful, miraculous gift of creation, and higher senses that perceive beauty in its maximum expression… but there are THOUSANDS of us out there, ones better that others, scared to use this talent in a productive way, because we are afraid it won’t be paid or recognized as we wish it to be… it is not fare to punish ourselves to live from something we feel is not our field… One thing is the need of living in a precary situation, a whole completeley different one is to be a conformist…
So this leads me to the re-formulation of the question… instead of asking ourselves is “why, WHY IN HELL this is so hard!?” we should turn the sheet over and write… “What should I do, where should I begin to make this profitable?” I must recall the answers that leaded to the “know how to market yourself” alternative… This is a good thing to recognize before doing anything, because we are dealing with images, whatever is the medium that produces it, and so we have to learn how to get them to be out there for the world to see them. Some of us will fail, some will turn the way on our favor and do exactly what people wants in order to sell, some will succeed even when going against all odds, and there will be those who just need to pull some strings and their problems will be magically solved… but what we ALL have to do, is to DO SOMETHING.
Bottom line is… I find quite offensive to be compared with a hard-cold lifeless object such as a camera (even more when I know that the camera will not shoot itself, and even if it does, I don’t think it will capture art, the same with computers!) artists are walking miracles that, despise what the new globalized world might say, and the damages it can cause us with all the technology we have today, can’t and won’t ever be replaced. We will never be “old fashion”, all the principles acting in a computer, camera or any other artificial mean work all together at the same time, processed billions of times faster and better, and have been doing it from centuries inside artist’s heads… maybe it is true that the world is not asking for another Rembrandt, Da’Vinci or Michael Angelo… neither for another Beethoven or a brand new Bach CD… They captured the memories of their times with masterful skills, but so can we, the problem is that we wish to be acknowledged as masters and geniuses from the beginning and that my friends, is not possible for most of us.
…Is the path going to be difficult? Yes it will, as everything else in live, is it worthy to sacrifice my “economic wealth” for this? Absolutely yes! This is an adventure that should be taken seriously in order to make it a success..
Jonnathan,
To be …… successful, … you have to follow a series of steps in order to, slowly, start placing yourself one step ahead…
Reading your comment this morning helped me finding my balance again. I am at a different stage of my life than you, now mostly retired from a scientific career without financial worries, but faced with the same need to slowly develop my artistic potential.
Birgit,
I find it so nice to know that these words helped… art is a wonderfull, almost magical gift that allow us to create, something most people just “admire”… But recognition, respect and economic wealth based just because some one is a great artist is something beyond -almost anyone’s- reality… to get there we have to work carefully, wiselly and very hard, not specting that much from the very beginning, to start growing up as artists, but allways thinking BIG! veeeery BIG!
I am an artist…I have been for about 6 years now. I love making my art and showing it to others. I do a lot of photography; I love creating imagery that puzzles my viewers, makes them wonder how I did it. Not just making pretty pictures, but something that grabs the viewer and makes them question it. Isn’t that what being an artist is really about? -creating something that makes people wonder, think, and imagine?
I don’t think being an artist is what’s difficult…if a person is an artist, it will flow out of them naturally. I think what is really difficult is getting your art recognized and appreciated by others, the world. When you add money to the mix–having to make a living with your art, that’s where it can get tough.
But I’m happy that I’m not at that point yet, I’m an art student learning….always will be learning! But this is a very interesting discussion. It’s a very thought provoking question, “why is being an artist so difficult?” I think the bottom line is, it’s a fear of rejection, and a fear of failure…. every time an artist starts a project, assignment, or whatever, those fears creep in. It’s a voice that whispers, “you can’t do this” or “no one cares”.
Tell that voice to shut up! :)
The longevity of this post is testimony of this enduring artist dilemma.
As Jonnathan commented, it is a long, slow and arduous path for most of us being an artist. For many it is not a conscious decision to take this path but rather an instinctive drive. At times it can feel like both a blessing AND a curse to have the soul of an artist. It has to be fed (worked at) and nurtured (acknowledged) just like other pursuits and can be very temperamental and exhausting too.
Art is so closely connected to the artist’s identity that, as Jessica mentioned, the fear of failure is always present. Just what that failure is or means is individual. With art, our inner thoughts and unique perception are placed outside the safety of our skin. You would have to be well armoured or quite self-righteous not to be sensitive to this.
As artists we journey to unfamiliar places on our intuitive ride, experiencing the ecstasy and challenges. At various points throughout the experience we jolt back into reality and things become confusing. There is the assessing and measuring of our process and completed artwork. Does it express the vision, concept and skills? Is it desirable, notable, saleable and where does it fit? We may try to ignore some of these but they often cause at least some degree of angst. A discussion such as this helps us to see we are not alone with these thoughts and that perhaps there is no simple one-size solution.
Creativity neglected certainly leads to great inner suffering within an artist. But the comment by CB way back at Post 12 in some ways raises my own current artist dilemma. In 2011 am I just being too self-absorbed? Do I accept some vague level of self-pleasure as an artistic purpose? Will I be contributing to the mass of meaninglessness and babble? To answer with a confident NO now requires much thought and justification for me about my own art and art and its role in society.
My art path has become a world highway in our interconnected modern world.
I am trying to work out a new route around this artistic road block but it is proving for me to be far more complex than the long-held difficulties of being an artist.
Most artists quit before they are developed enough to become financially successful. Some artists work is simply not good enough to be marketable. Quality art will always sell in the right time and place compared to the saturation of poor quality art. Because of the invention of photography, many careers of painters have been hindered…Being an artist is like being in the military, only the strongest survive, you have to think long term and be incredibly resilient and you can make it!
Hi All, being an Artist is an idea forever suspended in the paradox of being human at whatever point relative to what we call History. Contemporary times lack a symbolic consensus out of which a creative person can communicate something new and truly creative- even if he or she is preordained to do so from transpersonal sources. Artists act out of inner necessity as Kandinsky postulated and really have little choice at the ego level in the matter. If this is you, you are an artist…if not you may be something less- or something else?