I usually sit outside in the summer to work on artwork and that’s where I was yesterday. The project at hand was a children’s book about a perfect christmas tree and I was getting frustrated; I had too much to do and not enough time to do it. The colors were all mixing together with the acrylic and the linework I was drawing over them was too bold and making the pictures flat. I couldn’t get it right.
Next door is a well-to-do family where the dad is always going off to work; I have never seen this man outside unless he is walking to his car from the house or to the house from his car. He is well dressed everyday in a suit and tie. I would guess he has an office job in accounting, business, or something relating to the economy. This man, by all the evidence I have seen is a creature of habit.
So as I am sitting there trying to finish this project I see him look over.
“Hello!” he says. What?
“Hi,” I reply.
“Are you an art student at the University of Michigan?” I think for a second on how to approach this.
“No, I graduated a year and a half ago from Eastern Michigan.”
“Oh, well my daughter has been accepted to the art school of Chicago.” The mother in this family is extremely nosey by her own admission and extremely chatty, and everyday I am reminded one way or another about how their daughter has been accepted to the prestigious art collage in Chicago.
“Yes, your wife has told me all about it.” I answer.
The man gets a strange look on his face, as if he just forgot how to breathe.
“Well, I guess you’ve been at this art thing for a while now,.. and how, where do you go with something like that?”
“Like,.. a career in art?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
Oh good lord, what do I tell this man? There is no money in art right now for the art-grad recently out of college? You have to wander around aimlessly after graduating until you find the right market for your style and technique to be both accepted and desired? There is no money in art right now,.. at least not enough to make a living at it,.. unless you want to work as the crappy understudy of a bigger name already in the art world. There is no set path or firms you can join that will help you get an in. Art is really a “you figure it out and bullshit the rest” kind of career path. It really takes a lot of personal growth, self-discovery, and lots of random connections to be successful at art.
“Well, there’s many different paths you can take,” I say,”You mainly have to find people willing to pay for your art. I got lucky because of the whole Survivor thing, so I have a little money to coast on, otherwise I would be a penniless artist trying to make rent every month”
“Well, what about fine art,.. like galleries?”
Again, unless you are “discovered” there is no money to be made in art. Many of my art friends sink tons of money into preparing for galleries (framing, transportation, etc.) and hardly make a profit for it to be worth their time.
“Galleries can be a good route, if you keep up with it and make the right connections. I know a guy who worked as a garbage man for the most part of his life and was an alchoholic, but someone “discovered” his art one day and now he’s going on world tours and has buyers internationally”
“I see.” I don’t think he likes the idea of his daughter possibly becoming an alchoholic or garbage man.
“A lot of friends of mine though, from college, can’t afford to go through the gallery deal and work at coffeeshops, or as bartenders until that day they happen to win the lotto and are found by someone willing to purchase their work. I know of a couple who graduated with art degrees who are destitute and lived on welfare for a while”
“But what about advertising? Isn’t there a lot in advertising?” The man is starting to sweat a little in the summer sun.
He is right, there is a ton of work in advertising for art, but it’s not fine art, which his daughter is going into. I have seen some of her work and it is mainly portrature and figure painting; potentially worthless in the art scene unless it has a groundbreaking twist or involves a personal journey. All the advertising art is known as graphic design which I beleive to be the bastard child of fine art. Graphic design serves a purpose: make money for your product by making it look new, hip, or desirable. Graphic design can be done by anyone and in my opinion does not require a degree; graphic design is essentially picking the right fonts, laying them out, and photoshopping in an edgy image. If you want to have a lot of boring stuff to do, make a lot of money, and stifle your creativity then please become a graphic designer. I went to school for graphic design for three years before I realized I was really wanting to be an Illustrator, a job I find much more rewarding artistically, despite the money.
“Advetising is graphic design, and I don’t think that fits your daughter’s style.”
The man’s forehead has some wrinkles in it.”Oh,okay.” He calmly moves around his car towards the door of his house, without looking back.”Thanks, have a good day.”
“Have a good day.”
I kind of feel bad for this man, worried that his daughter has chosen the “wrong path” in life. Thats the vibe I got from him at least. A worry that his daughter, although talented and driven, may have a tough road to go before she actually gets recognized as an artist or makes a decent paycheck. In this time when money is tight for everyone nobody wants to pay for art. Art is over produced and underappreciated and I have seen this time and again when looking for freelance work in Illustration or fine art.
One of the most common arguments i have seen against the value of art was said to me a while back at an art show: “You can naturally draw, why should i pay you a lot for ten minutes worth of actual work?” A true enough statement; however, what did I have to learn in order to produce art of this quality in under ten minutes? The public doesn’t see the ten years the artist spent training their eye and hand to produce the images in their head. The public doesn’t know the countless failed drawing that lead up to this perfect image. The public doesn’t understand the trials it takes to be good in a field in which hundreds of thousands of others are also competing to be more unique and original. They only see the final product and how quickly and easily it was produced by a masterful hand, and decide from that information that is a “natural gift” and nothing more.
Hey, but who knows? Maybe the girl next door is the next Picasso.
4 Comments
A lot of people cannot appreciate what goes into art….until they try to do it themselves, and then they develop a new understanding…..hopefully.
Great article…. I think you might be right. Not having any artistic talent myself, I truly appreciate those that were given the gift. My aunt could draw and paint up a storm, but I guess that gene missed my side of the family.
I would think though as an artist, the greatest satisfaction next to a large pay day would be the appreciation of those who genuinely recognize the talent of the artist. That sometimes can be a priceless reward….
Erik – this is the first time I’ve read one of your blog entries. I was fan of you on Survivor and greatly admired how you played the game. You seem to have a unique and wonderful personality and it appears that you did not sacrifice that on the show. I also feel the need to acknowledge your talents as an exceptional artist…
However, I must disagree with your point of view on Graphic Design. Graphic Design was never the bastard child of art. Yes, Graphic Design is the most efficient way to move a product – but it also is an extension of the fine art world, just as valuable as sculpture, painting, architecture, or performance.
You might want to take a closer look at the history of Graphic Design and maybe formulate a new opinion. I urge you research the Bauhaus school and take good look at some of the work that came out of that movement. Though the work might not appeal to you, (after all, we are dealing with subjectivity) most would agree that it takes a considerable amount of planning, thought and technique to achieve the message that the Bauhaus preached. Dig deeper, and realize that Graphic Design principles such form, function and congruency are some the same principles that you apply to your current medium.
Another historical reference point would be Saul Bass – who was able to merge his talents seamlessly with film. Or if you are looking for something relevant in today’s art world, I urge you seek out Joshua Davis who has successfully merged think-for-you technology with his personal (and sometimes not public) works. It would be quite difficult to state that he is “stifled” creatively based on his body of work.
In regards to your view on Graphic Design education – it is quite easy for someone to drop into a computer lab, throw some text on a filtered image and hand it to a professor for a grade. Unfortunately, college graphic design classes are filled with students who flunked out of business school and find the art world to be an easy path to a degree. Please don’t let this type of “designer” detract from the graphic designer for whom you might personally coin “naturally gifted”.
You make some extremely good points and I do agree with a lot of what you have to say. Yes, there are exceptionally talented graphic designers out there and yes, graphic design as a medium contains a great deal of overlap with other the other mediums.
I think you make an important designation between those I’ve encountered in art school and those who have a passion for graphic design as artists. I would agree I am jaded towards the medium simply because of my interactions with students who cut and paste text for a grade and truly talented artists that went on to create great things. I remember one student whose video project was a mirror that he turned into a holo-screen complete with youtube, CNN, and email. It was incredible, really the kind of special effects you would see in Ironman or Tron.
Thank you for your opinion!