Being an Artist in an economic downturn
Posted on January 26, 2015
Being an Artist - where is the money?
Curious Duke Gallery ask our panel of contemporary artists what exactly the effect the current economic climate is having on artists and the arts?
Aidan Myers
With regards to sales or gaining a market that caters for the specific work and ideas that you believe in as an artist, it’s a long process and a lot of hard work, without straying too far from your morals or beliefs.
I can see that there is a growing market for emerging artists with the rise of graduate shows, this has been vital for me. It is fair for me to say that without the belief of gallery owners and curators taking a risk in exhibiting emerging artists right from graduating, I wouldn’t be in the position I am now.
Having said this, you have to put all your energy into finding your specific position within the art world, which inevitably means that finances can dwindle initially as you experiment. Personally this is very difficult, yet it is a realisation that being an artist is a lifestyle and not just a career to make money.
Kristen Gaudio Endsley
Its hard to answer this since I have only been practicing for about five years, so it has always been within this climate. I haven't noticed a huge change because of that. Maybe ask me this question in 10 years...
Kate Knight
It's tough! There is no other way of putting it. An artist has to have the talent, dedication and financial income to maintain everything it takes to create. You also have to market your practice and product the right way. It's difficult making work in a domestic environment so you need a studio. For me this is an essential outlay. To be able to shut the door and make mistakes is vital. Making work in a home environment creates a sense of comfort to an artwork which is not necessarily a good thing. You've always got to push, push the boundaries, your skills and yourself.
Then there is the commercial side to the work, for instance limited editions. The print is my bread and butter and supports me greatly, enabling me to keep going. Printing costs can be high, especially when using a top notch company. If you produce prints make them the best they can be. I produce Giclee prints with an internationally reputable company who use pigment instead of dye. All paper is archival and images are scanned and cleaned ready for marketing the work.
I spend a lot of my income investing in my practice but I wouldn't have it any other way. I get to wake up, walk into my studio and create all day. What's not to love?!
Blandine Bardeau
First of all, I think most artists (not the big ones) sell themselves very short!
When I calculate how much money I get for the hours spent in a piece, all in all, it’s tiny, especially when I sometimes send my work abroad, I can spend 10 hours just packaging it, and that’s not something I get paid for. Materials also cost the earth.
I think it’s hard being an artist. There’s more of us nowadays, and people have less money to spend so the market is large with a small market. However, the new ways of communicating can be incredible and very effective. It is what it is. I think it’s better than it was a hundred years ago as people are more aware of the arts.
Sometimes, you hear of these incredibly vertiginous sales some artists make, and that’s when you think that a little more balance, so that we could all carry on, would be nice! I suppose it’s the same in every industry. It’s just in the arts you really get the extremes, from the super-poor to the super-rich. Studios are a real problem in London. Expensive, freezing, and tiny. I think one of the big artists should buy buildings in London and turn them into affordable HEATED studios for other artists. Why do we have to freeze?
I think each one of us would just like to make a decent living, and carry on being an artist, without doing anything else. That’s the dream!
Cherie Strong
I don't think it matters what the economic climate is, as an artist you must learn to hustle! People like to say 'oh... its not about sales/money...' but you have to pay bills like every other human being too.
To be a full time artist requires it! Materials are expensive and your time and vision is worth something.
- Always be on the lookout for possible opportunities.
- Keep up multiple income streams -consider commissions, festivals, using your art for products, licensing your images, etc.
- Work with galleries that actually like your work.
And for gods sake...
- learn to promote yourself
- learn how to utilise social media
- learn to negotiate
- learn to value yourself and your time
- learn to be professional... this is a business, your reputation is your brand.
Art is an impulse buy for most people – if they see something they love and want it, be ready.
Samantha Gare
Is this where I can use the term ‘struggling artist’. I think the economic climate is hard all round – personally I feel it in every aspect of my life and also in the fear I feel in taking the plunge and going full time (but part of that is just the general fear of taking a chance). I’m lucky to have my full time job, for a regular income to support my art. But saying that I entered the art industry probably during the height of a poor economic climate and have been pursuing art seriously for a year - in that year I have made a profit and sold regularly. I might have a different answer if my sole income was from art, but I have noticed the London scene seems a lot more profitable and healthy than outside the city. From my own experience and from the experience of my peers artwork is currently selling.
Art is everywhere, people want to feel happy and seek beauty in their stressful lives so maybe you could even argue art is an outlet/ escape and why my own experience seems so positive. Maybe I have been lucky with sales but to me art seems alive and running full force into 2015, ever changing and reflexing current thoughts. I sometimes feel art might sit outside the economic climate, if anything it’s a place to comment and explore the world around you. Communication and basic human desire that goes beyond the price tag.
Eleni Duke - Owner of Curious Duke
Having started a luxury goods business in the middle of an economic downturn it has been tough, I can't hide that fact. I believe that most artists that have started up at this point would say the same. By no means should the economic climate dictate the talent of any individual be it artist or architect. The creative arts is by no means an easy way to make a living at the moment, materials are expensive and publicity is rare and time consuming.
Saying that, and as a gallery owner, the arts is a unique industry, one that operates like no other because of the exclusive nature of what we sell. People believe in art work and the talent of individuals so much that they are absolutely able to spend the money that they know the talent is worth. In a world where so much is massed produced consumers value the unique and rareness of a piece of art work - there aren't many things that as a buyer you know that only you possess, and for a very reasonable price tag.
The key to overcoming the economy is to persevere, it can be tough, it can be a battlefield but this just makes victory that much sweeter.
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