"Starving Artist"?

     I'm sure you've probably heard of the term. One could say that the stigma is that in order to be an artist, a true artist, is to give up everything and dedicate all your time to your craft at all costs.. including barely making money off your art in the beginning and really living like a bum, thus the term "starving artist". Maybe that was possible before the 90s when you could live in NYC for $500 a month and really not worry too much about where you were gonna sleep at night. Maybe you're GenZ who's in your 20s and still live with your parents or maybe you're going to art school and you're relying on your professors' connections into the art world so you're taken care of after you graduate. What ever the case is for you, the real question is, does it work?

     What works? I mean, like anything else, it takes time and patience to get noticed... sometimes sheer luck, but until that happens what are you doing to sustain yourself? Me personally, I choose to work a normal job that actually has nothing to do with art but I get paid a lot and I'm comfortable. The downside? I work too hard and when I do have free time I'm either too tired or not motivated enough after a long week. So what would take a couple of months to put together a new collection and a show now is currently taking me a year +. That is horseshit. I've met the opposite of my situation. People who don't have real jobs and paint 24/7 and hustle their work on the streets. Now mind you, these pieces are fabricated to target people who know nothing about art, and is usually celebrity art. Now it might sound like I'm hating on it but I'm not, simply because in the end they're putting in the painting hours I'm not, but when I do paint its original work and one off not to be duplicated. Doing this is productive to an extent. Like I said, putting in painting hours is SUPER MAJOR KEY, and that goes for any trade, the more you do it the better you get.. you would think. So what would be the happy medium? School?

     School is an option but you're rolling the dice on that one too.. I'm not saying that an art degree is useless, but if you think it guarantees anything, you are insane. So many factors go into what makes your work valuable, relevant and not to mention acceptable. Life experience is MAJOR KEY. The experience of being a homeless person that can paint will always outshine someone who's been sheltered but can also paint. An artist tells stories. It's kinda why Kanye's music went downhill for me. No one is gonna relate to your raps about being rich and dating a social media icon. We miss the old Kanye because that Kanye was relatable, came from the bottom, loved his mama, and had dreams of becoming famous to give people hope that you can succeed if you want it bad enough. Now you just want to be relevant and it shows and its needy. Would I want fame? Not sure, I mean being a famous artist kinda waters down your work a little if you think about it. No struggle makes for lazy work, I say. I need the struggle to feel like I made something good. If I was rich would I even paint anymore? I love painting maybe it would free up my time more but at what cost? It's a scary balance act. I feel like that’s only scary NOW. Artists like Pablo Picasso still knocked out work till his dying day and he died a full life. Now with social media and fame being integral and all that shit would he have lived that long?