Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Poor, poor artist

With the arrival of the sculptors last week it struck me again how poor most of them are. If any of them have a decent vehicle it's because they have a second job to pay the bills. Is this right? Do we really undervalue our artists so much. I'm sure we respect them just as much as the plumber who earns $40 an hour. It's as if people think they are doing what they love to do and if they want to make a living go and get a proper job like the rest of us.
I think it is making people aware of the value of art in their lives. I was trying to sell a sculpture (not one of mine, I find it much easier to sell someone elses work)) to a woman this week, she loved it and kept looking at it but said she couldn't afford it. I asked her what would happen to her if she bought it. Would she be thrown out on the street, starve, have no Xmas presents for her children, die... no no no no. I told her in six months time she would have forgotten the struggle to find the money and would have a beautiful artwork to raise her spirits and fill her life with joy. She teetered back and forth and then left with an apology. I guarantee she is now regretting that she didn't follow her heart.
Most of the artworks I have purchased still 'talk' to me every time I see them and so enrich my life experience. How do we get that message across to potential buyers??

6 comments:

BBC said...

With the arrival of the sculptors last week it struck me again how poor most of them are.

Maybe they should get real jobs? Any 'art' I've ever created I just did for fun without expecting any gain from it.

I just give my one of a kind toothpick cups away, when I feel like making them at all.

Jon said...

it is because of the way that art talks to us and has so much to offer that many governments seem so intent to cut funding for the arts (in my opinion)...

it's dangerous to have people's minds active and thinking and exploring new ideas... this is why the role of the artist is just as important now as ever...

hope you sell this sculpture... and your damn right... she won't regret it

Jon said...

@ BBC

can i get me one of those cups?

chook said...

Billy...just as the flowering of great civilisations produced great art so do we need great art in times of recession and hardship to lift our spirits and give us hope.

Jon...do you think they can be that callous? I know under dictatorships they target the thinkers and writers and artists first because they give hope to the people but in the 'free world' has it come to that?

SHUBHAJIT said...

artists are not poor. how rich they are in their hearts!

chook said...

Shubhajit...of course you are so very right. Is this the reason they don't get paid very well? I know an artist shouldn't think of the value of the art while making it but a lot of the time they are working on other jobs to make ends meet. They need support (not in grants but by buying their work) so they can concentrate fully on what they are good at.