by Elton Gahr

Created on: May 19, 2009

What are we referring to when we speak of the starving artist? The image that immediately pops into mind is that of the young man in Paris standing on the street corner with his canvas and paint that he spent his last dollar on. This romantic version of the starving artist is appealing in some way, but it obscures the view of the real point of this concept, that the starving writer sacrifices for his art and that he has a strong need to succeed.

First, and foremost, the concept is that of suffering for ones art, but at the more basic, it is the idea of sacrificing for the things that we love. The choice of food or art is a especially dramatic one but it is not the normal state of the artist, even one who is struggling to gain a name.

Instead, a vast majority of those who want to be artists fall into the category of working artist. This is someone who would far prefer to be spending his time painting, drawing, writing, sculpting or some other form of art but instead spends eight hours a day working a job and then tries to squeeze in a few minutes of art in at the end of the day.

These are the ones who most idealize the starving artist, often because there is some part of them that wishes they could do the same and while they might not be able to afford to simply give up their livelihood, especially since they have a family, bills and more. Yet they can, at some level become the starving artist.

The starving artist is not, at his heart, one who gives up food for writing but one that gives up something for his art. Sacrifice is at the heart of this concept and in that way anyone can become a starving artist. They can give up TV, or nights out with their friends, they can give up sleep, or go so far as to choose to put off the personal part of their life in order to chase their dreams.

The second part of the starving artist is that of desire. In our everyday lives it is often far too easy to become contented with our position. The starving artist has a constant reminder of his need to produce and improve his writing. He has put all of his eggs in a single basket and with no place to run he is forced to become great.

The image of the starving writer living in a studio in Paris may be gone, but the drives to create beauty, to follow your dreams and the willingness to do anything to achieve worthwhile goals still exists and we can all choose, or not choose to make those decisions.

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