The Starving Artist

My whole life I watched my mom struggle as an artist. She would throw her heart and soul into her art, day after day as well as night after night as she not only painted for herself, but taught daytime and evening lessons. I would say that at the end of it all, her classes became her great love. The lessons were more like therapy sessions than they were lessons and most of her students, once joined - stayed forever.

Sure, she sold her art and yes, it actually sold relatively quickly… but she was never in any galleries or anything like that. Most of her works were sold to interior designers for clients houses and then also in decor shops.. But she always undervalued what she created. She could have charged a lot more for her art, but I think like many artists she was afraid that then it would not sell.

It always saddened me to witness my mom struggle. Obviously we, as kids, helped her in whatever ways we could, but it was not enough to change the hand to mouth reality she lived with.

I began reflecting on this last night as I read a quote that said “The biggest obstacle to our happiness is undervaluing what we have and over valuing what others have.”. We are all guilty of doing this at least from time to time and also in many different ways or facets of life. I know I do… but I also know that it is particularly prevalent in creative types.

The starving artist - a phrase and association or “stigma” if you will that has been around for donkeys years… and in most cases of artists - very, very true… which is incredibly sad really, considering that the creative arts are what add richness, depth, beauty and meaning to all of our lives in one way, shape or form.

The beginning of the NFT space showed the potential to change that for artists, and as I entered the space myself, you could literally “feel” the energy and excitement excluding from creatives all over the world as they navigated their way into this world of digital assets. There was this almost unspoken and unanimous sigh of relief amongst everyone as the possibility of actually moving beyond the line of struggle became an almost tangible reality.

And it was, a reality for a short, magical period of time as art was suddenly celebrated so enormously because the selling of one's work as a digital asset suddenly bridged the gap between artists and art collectors all over the world. There was so much hope, promise and enthusiasm in every direction you looked.

But it was short lived. The often callous and shallow nature of human kind soon took over as greed filtered its way into the mix. Everyone and his aunt was suddenly an “artist” and everyone was suddenly a “collector”. The title of both began to crawl out of every crack and corner you can imagine - not to mention the rest of the bunch commonly known as “flippers” who were simply there to make a quick buck under the guise of being an “art enthusiast”.

The whole thing became really cheap, really fast… and then to add fuel to fire, the AI aspect of the art suddenly went from a flickering flame which sparked interest - to an out of control wildfire which only amplified the sickening shallowness of it all. Don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against AI art or AI technology, I use it daily... most of us do, even if we are not aware that we do... but it was just the manner in which it came into play and literally "wiped out" almost any value or attention given to traditional artists.

Everything did a 180 and it happened in the blink of an eye as all the “flash in the pan” “AI artists” saturated every corner of the art space in digital assets and suddenly, I looked around and saw that artists all over the world were exactly where they were before any of this even started - except now, not only are they exactly where they started… but they also have a bitter taste in their mouths as the world holds trash on a pedestal and celebrates the tacky rather than the traditional.

Personally, I walked away from that space about a year ago - for this exact reason. I simply could not stomach it anymore and I found that it was making me resentful and bitter inside, because it made me feel worthless as an artist and watching others around me going through the same thing, created a vicious circle of unhappiness. For the sake of self preservation, and in order to be able to continue enjoying the magic that is art - I decided to opt out.

I am however, still connected to many of the artists who continued to persevere long after I waved goodbye… but the cracks are starting to show even more now and it really breaks my heart to see such incredible talent getting overlooked, ignored and blatantly undervalued because we live in a bubblegum world.

As an individual, I have only got control of my own choices in respect to this situation, but I do hope that it goes full circle eventually… and that at some point people start to realise that they have all been blinded by bright lights and shallow hype which ultimately has little to no value - and definitely zero depth.

I would love to see artists flourish and the world showing some respect to such magnificent talent, the same way it does to any other profession which requires advanced levels of skill and dedication. I would love to be witness to a world where the “norm” is not “the starving artist”.

❤❤❤

Until next time...
Much Love from Country Bumpkinland, South Africa xxx
Jaynielea

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