Yeah, OK, that's right. I think I often go to automatic when you're talking, Derek. Sort of what you do too. Like Montaigne, I think we might come to the same end by different means.
Serious artists don't pander to any audiences at the expense of their art. However, doing exactly that, pandering, is the name of the game in art schools today. Every student wants to "make it" through networking because no independent qualitative stansdards exist anymore. For serious artists the work is a lifetime commitment even if there's no reward. And what reward is sufficient anyway? No artist ever quit because he or she was too successful or too highly ranked, or too famous, although more than a few thought they must be doing something wrong when their careers took off. I've know many, many artists who quit and some of them were hugely talented. I used to say that the successful artists were not always the best but simply the ones who didn't quit. There are enormous social pressures against being an artist. It usually takes about 10 to 15 years for an artist to get anything of a serious artworld career and that's with an abundance of good fortune. Mostly those years are at the most crucial social stage of one's life ... 20s to mid 30s when many obligations and needs come into play, mainly families and living costs, etc. Few get through that period. Even with success, few artists earn enough from their work in today's urban environments. Say an artist grosses $400,000. a year. Subtract all the commissions and costs and not much is left, not even a beginning MBA salary. And only the most select gross $400,000 and it may only happen for a few years because the commercial-theory laden artworld must have something new and someone new every year or two. I think most if not all artists do need some support person or group because people are social and because art is social. It might be just one person, or several at different times. Maybe some support is partially imaginary. Some is material, like a day job, or a trust fund. Just to tie this in to our discussions, all of the material concerns, the real life concerns re art and artists need to be a part of any aesthetics theory. WC
