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I am an artist, so the "starving artist" idea hits very close to home for me. In some ways, I suppose it is a romantic concept. The lone artist locked in the studio, working away and struggling hoping one day to be discovered. He or she is dirty, gaunt and eccentric. Home is the studio and the studio is home. the artist is obsessed with a vision constantly working to prefect it. He or she is difficult to be around, seemingly depressed because of any number of things: money, relationship, not being recognized as a genius. Often the image is completed with a loft apartment somewhere, sparsely finished, art work strewn about.

I find this, for the most part, complete fantasy. While in art school and even now I have never met anyone that loved that concept of the starving artist. That's not to say I haven't met, known or befriended starving artists or rather artists struggling economically, especially with the current economy. more often then not though money is the thing that keeps people from becoming "artists" in any creative field. The question of "how will I make a living" is often answered with an "I can't and those people don't even enter the field. Others become teachers or professors, believing it to be the surest way to make a living in the field. for those that do get teaching positions, I know they don't make boat loads of cash, but I wouldn't say they are starving either. the rest of us freelance, have jobs inside or outside the field and our financial situation is dependent upon work ethic, ingenuity, experience and luck.

Often a deciding factor is whether or not an artist has commercial skills. The commercial artist will have better luck of surviving and thriving in the field then those that have an intense uncompromising personal vision. What must be remembered about "art" any art, is that it is a business. this is a concept that never seems to come into play when reflecting on the starving artist. When the grand romantic concept of the artist is replaced with the idea of a service and product provider, suddenly the imagery is not as lush.

So what is my reflection of the starving artist? It is a fantasy. The starving artist is no different then the out of work factory worker, downsized IT guy or any number of people out of work, one of the struggeling thousands that are applying for janitorial positions now. Being an artist is more then just being a job, it is a vocation, but that is no excuse to be starving.

Learn more about this author, D. Kearney Sparano.
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