Would it be fair to have a stripper do her thing in front of you and not to offer her a tip? Can you go to the movies without paying a ticket?
I must admit that the first time I heard the words, “Would you like to hang your artwork here?” was not exactly like my first time in bed with a girl but rather my first sweet kiss as a teen. When you have never sold your artwork before, when you are afraid people will like your creations, these words fit just perfectly since the only think you dream about is to show your work anywhere at any cost.
But if you are a true artist, you can’t settle there. You start traveling, you get to know museums, galleries, art shows, you start investing more time, money and effort in your career. Your name is no longer unknown. And after a few years, more art shows and earning more frienemies, you are an emerging artist. Maybe a magazine has published your first article, probably you’ve got the attention of a documentarian, or a prestigious gallery has requested your work. However it is your artwork finished its ABC stage and is now pronouncing its own language and obviously people are willing to pay a better price for it. The people who didn’t trust in you now are turning around, whether to criticize or to congratulate but they can’t shut their mouths to mention you.
Unfortunately for some bizarre reason, there are people who see artists as people who receive a contemporary version of manna. Or as if we are never hungry, don’t pay taxes, don’t like to go drive cars or own houses. And they have the idea to invite you to lend your art work and displaying it at their places or events without offering reciprocal deal. They think they are doing artists a favor and say things like, “We’re gonna have this bla, bla, bla show and would love for you to hang your art work there?”
You‘re no longer a teen and can’t settle with a sweet kiss anymore. You know that every time you move your artwork, you expose ii to be damaged. You know that you have to decide if you spend that money on gas and meals to attend that show or to invest it on buying canvases, paintings, colors, paying rent, paying bills, etc. Now you are thinking, will it worth it? Should I go or invest my time, energy and money to do my accounting and pay my taxes? just like any other human being.
If you are already an emerging artist or almost there where your art is well known, you are doing a mistake by lending your art work without receiving a payment. It is not your fault that these blinded people can’t understand that an artist has the same duties and responsibilities as any company. Therefore if they can’t value your artwork, you should be the first one to set the example. What would a restaurant do if they invite it to show a catering? The very least it can ask for if it’s not going to have a check for the food, chef and costs of moving the catering, is at least to have the restaurant’s name on the show advertisement. Anybody who is invited to be involved in an event or show is expecting a payment, so who said any product or service is better than art works?
It is humiliating to request a painter to hang his/her artwork at a given event and just expect the artist to be happy by having people saying, “oh how beautiful, congratulations!” but nobody buys anything.We as artists have had to offer our artwork to be shown for free, but it is only at the beginning, there should be a time when the very same artist should understand that that stage is not forever, that there is a time when people has to either rent it, buy it, offer advertisement or trade a product. We are the first responsible ones of the value of our artwork. We as artist should be together on this idea. We should also honor the ones who are ahead of us and help those who are behind us. Since one day we will be ahead and should never forget where we were, getting a teenager lollypop kiss.
Of course we’re not talking about philanthropy. Think about what would happen if the income difference between emerging artists and startists would shrink? What would happen if two out of every 10 citizens would own an original art work? Share your experience with us or your tips on how we can make our art more worthy.
Touché 