proud to be a whore
May. 22nd, 2006 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
egypturnashThis is, amazingly enough, pulled from a discussion I had on Deviantart's forums. The question was about "compromising your vision" and "selling your soul". I may have gotten a little ranty here, but when you get right down to it, these myths of "real art" do a lot to keep people from making their own stuff...
I think too many people get sold the whole "pure, starving artist" myth. It's only art if it has no commercial value! It's only art if it's difficult to understand! My core set of influences - cartoonists and animators from the early 1900s - somewhat insulated me from this when I went through art school; all of my idols were "whores" in the eyes of people who believe in the purity of artistic essence.
For that matter, most of the Old Masters were "whores" - all those great paintings that've survived the ages are idealized pictures of nobles, jumped-up noveau rich, or pictures celebrating the glory of the Church. DaVinci? Whore. Michaelangelo? Whore. Rembrandt? Whore. Damn skilled whores, but whores nonetheless.
Art-as-useless, artist as a hungry-but-pure figure, is a romantic caricature. Starving in your Paris garret in misery to become famous after you're dead and enrich the people who bought your work for a pittance because you were their friend? Screw that. Lean on your friends and family, and find ways to pay those bills, yeah. But don't let yourself get eaten by that. How many people have achieved their modern dream art goal of animation or video games, only to burn out after a few years and maybe never do it again? And how many people do their best to toil away in obscurity and self-enhanced depression? Since starting my current freelance gig, I've done more art for myself than I have in any similar span of time: I know my work's valuable because I get paid good money for stuff I'm shitting out. I don't waste time wondering if I'm any good any more. That regular paycheck confirms it.
It's scary, and it's not easy to find a niche in the world of commerce for your art. But it happens. Sometimes you lose yourself to the Money, the Responsibility, to one particular dream. I came close myself.
I think too many people get sold the whole "pure, starving artist" myth. It's only art if it has no commercial value! It's only art if it's difficult to understand! My core set of influences - cartoonists and animators from the early 1900s - somewhat insulated me from this when I went through art school; all of my idols were "whores" in the eyes of people who believe in the purity of artistic essence.
For that matter, most of the Old Masters were "whores" - all those great paintings that've survived the ages are idealized pictures of nobles, jumped-up noveau rich, or pictures celebrating the glory of the Church. DaVinci? Whore. Michaelangelo? Whore. Rembrandt? Whore. Damn skilled whores, but whores nonetheless.
Art-as-useless, artist as a hungry-but-pure figure, is a romantic caricature. Starving in your Paris garret in misery to become famous after you're dead and enrich the people who bought your work for a pittance because you were their friend? Screw that. Lean on your friends and family, and find ways to pay those bills, yeah. But don't let yourself get eaten by that. How many people have achieved their modern dream art goal of animation or video games, only to burn out after a few years and maybe never do it again? And how many people do their best to toil away in obscurity and self-enhanced depression? Since starting my current freelance gig, I've done more art for myself than I have in any similar span of time: I know my work's valuable because I get paid good money for stuff I'm shitting out. I don't waste time wondering if I'm any good any more. That regular paycheck confirms it.
It's scary, and it's not easy to find a niche in the world of commerce for your art. But it happens. Sometimes you lose yourself to the Money, the Responsibility, to one particular dream. I came close myself.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-24 04:11 am (UTC)