One of the struggles that I met when I determined to be an artist, was the shame that came along with choosing a "profession that wouldn't earn a real income". Of course this statement of not being able to earn a living as an artist is as true or as false as you experience it--there is no certainty to it and it entirely depends on how you define art and artwork. However, there is a good amount of truth to it if you make nothing to sell. And since we base our concept of success primarily on the value of the dollar, very few artists are successful--and those that are, are mostly successful at selling their "artworks" as products.
I am reminded of public high school and being heaped together socially with the other "misfits" at the cafeteria, we had very little in common with each other, other than that we were different. I feel similarly about being an artist in a vast pool of "artists" that have very little in common with each other--other than we use the title "artist". But I believe we are all "artists", so lets extend this title to include everyone. Now that we are all hypothetically artists, why are some being paid tremendously while others are not being paid at all? What are the various methods we have for supporting the "art work" of others? Consider the: Mother, Poet, Dancer, Teacher, Political Leader, Minister, Farmer, Scientist, Doctor, Auto-Mechanic, Painter, Firefighter, Stock Trader, etc. etc.
I believe that an artist (like myself) needs to challenge the notion of commodifying the art they make--but rather to keep it "free" (Is there such thing?) and "share" it with the public. Art brings knowledge to the world--it is our ethical responsibility to make that as available to as many as we possibly can. But in order to do that we need financing to both live and make our art.
I've just finished reading Amanda Palmer's book "The Art of Asking". She is an excellent example of an artist engaged with exploring new systems of financing her work. She is a musician who is famous for raising the largest amount of money on Kickstarter (a crowdfunding platform) to finance a new album. She raised over 1.2 million with approximately 25k backers. She used the money from her fans to pay for the costs of living and production of the album, and then released it freely to be shared, and copied by anyone interested. Reading the book I related to many points she raised, such as the feeling of shame associated with asking for support. That it has been ingrained in our society that we should be able to do "it" all by ourselves--and that we don't deserve the help of others (especially towards supporting our work that doesn't feel like work--but more like play!) She talks about the fraud police (her inner shaming voice) that yells, "Get a job!!" This inner voice mimics a voice that was once literally yelled at her while she was a street performer...and she thought back, "I have a job, this is it!" That insult has to do with misunderstanding the value of artistic exchange without a product. When she was a street performer she was a statue that was standing still to be freely admired, and when a passerby gave her money expressing their gratitude of the experience they recieved-she returned the gift with her gaze, acknowledging her gratitude of their gift back to them...this was a gift exchange.
Later in the book Palmer describes her asking for money on kickstarter as asking to be paid in advance for products and was not asking for charity. There was an attitude or feeling that if it had been "just donations" it would have been unethical. She says on page 237,
“Crowdfunding wasn’t charity, as some people seemed to think; my backers were buying things. It was a means for implementing a business model based on the currency of asking and trusting...Some journalists didn’t understand how crowdfunding worked, and many thought all the money was donations, rather than advance purchases of actual things that I had to create and deliver.”
While I am excited about Palmer's courage to ask for financing her artwork, I feel frustrated by how the exchange was more about "buying" rather then "giving", and that it was material based. For example--a certain dollar amount "given" on her kickstarter was returned with a T-shirt or something else tangible.
Interestingly, I googled Amanda Palmer and discovered that just this week she has launched her second crowdfunding request!!! This time she is using a new platform titled ‘Patreon.org’ which is different than Kickstarter. It allows for backers to become subscribers of either a specific artistic project or pay the artist an ongoing monthly amount. Reading Amanda’s decision to launch this new campaign addressed some of the questions and concerns I have about Kickstarter, and the purchasing of material goods. She says that she wants the financial support to create unspecific content (blogging, tweeting, singing, painting, etc) that is not always physical “stuff”, hence this other platform allows her more creative freedom. To me, this platform is braver and involves more trust between parties. Within her first 24hrs she has raised over 15k for an unspecified creative project from approximately 1,300 backers. This calculates to an average $10 contribution per person.
Awhile back I read the book 'The Gift' by Lewis Hyde which addresses these questions about art and commodification. Yesterday his newest book arrived, titled 'Common As Air'. I am looking forward to reading it. I feel these questions all relate to why Joseph Beuys called for a total upheaval of our society, by reconsidering the role of the artist and revolutionizing our financial system with creative capital. I actually believe that we are in this process, and that artists and agriculturalists are leading the revolution.
Meanwhile I am asking to hear your thoughts about "gifting". Do you have a gifting practice? Who do you give to and why do you give? How do you define giving? You can comment here or on facebook and also by private email. You can friend me on facebook or email me at dawnbreezeart@gmail.com
I am interested in exploring new methods for financing and experiencing art and the artist!
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