we are all just stamp collectors

makin art without doping paperwork is a hobby. nothing wrong with a hobby though.

there is TONS of bureaucracy to doing art. there are grant proposals, putting together press kits, meeting/shmoozing/maintaining relationships, IRS non-profit filing, renting/coordinating rehearsal space, … many of those things are done by one person. but few arty endeavors can support more than the artist. so the artist (particularly at the beginning) has to do all of these on top of the work.

it would be tempting to call this a "career", and you certainly could. but it is FAR more useful to think of it as a sponge for your resources. an investment implies, you are gambling that a certain amount in, will eventually yield a certain amount out. the art world has no direct link like that.

art is exactly like stamp collecting, eating at fancy restaurants or buying perfume, in this respect. there is no limit to the amount it will absorb and no relationship making the more you invest, the higher your odds of a big return. this is not true. you simply buy it as any other luxury item. first, you buy what you need to survive and afterwards, what makes survival more pleasant. if not, you end up in debt. (which happens to a lot of artists)

art is like stamp collecting because it not only costs to play, but there are things to know, a history to learn, theories to be familiar with. to claim either is more important is just being silly and clinging to old biases. to consider either a career, is to forget you really do ultimately end up "paying to play". folks who delude themselves into thinking it's possible not to, A are not accounting for their total investments and B. probably buy lottery tickets too, hoping they'll win one day. there are a handful of exceptions out of billions. but everyone looks to that handful, and doesn't hear about the rest.

it's no fun to let odds run your life, but charging blindly, full-force against them is SO much the norm, it makes the system harder on us all. most institutions seem to believe it and expect all others to stricly. faith and determination are cool, but sometimes without a reality check we can veer way off and wonder why they're not working. they really are working in the current context, but we often don't realize where we are.


the most helpful advice i've heard though was to a group of artists "stop defining things so strictly. it has never helped anyone. never will. forget strict definitions and your life will be so much more clear." forget trying to pin down exactly what "career" and "art" mean. it ain't what's "right", it's what "works" and "art career" just doesn't work in the long run.