Art & Money
The relationship between art and money is complicated. The good things about money in art can just as easily be seen as bad things.
For instance, being paid for your art can feel validating. You are obviously making things other people like and you are spending your time doing something that is valuable. Hopefully, you can even live off of what you make.
On the other hand, you can create art you love, but you are pandering to your audience so that your art can sell. You are making a living but you find you care too much about what others think and it affects your work.
It’s hard to find that balance. Where you can make money off authentic art that you want to make. That is not to say that there is something wrong with catering to your audience. An audience can be just as inspiring as stunting, just as money can be encouraging and a barrier.
When you make art there can be compromises. If someone is paying you for a commission they get a say. Most of the great art in museums were commissioned by the wealthy. However, that makes you wonder, what would our museums look like if artists were allowed to create on their terms alone?
Would we have more or less art? How would art look different? Would we like it more or less? There is a duality to so much of this conversation and that is why I made a podcast about it.
Sometimes I wonder what the ideal environment is for art and artists. What would a world where art is free of money look like? Maybe artists would feel empowered that they could make what they want and not fear going hungry. There are definitely people out there that would argue that money is what drives people to succeed, but it’s also not the only thing.
I do not have all the answers, but I do know we need art and art has value beyond money. That’s why I think it’s important to talk about the relationship between art and money. We need to understand what it takes to keep art in our community and that is what Creative Money ATX is all about.