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WORK FOR BIG BIZ OR SELF, WHAT IS BEST WHAT IS THE DIFF?

By DG Wilson Dec. 2007

So you are an artist, and you are starving. You are living up to your reputation as a visual master of mediums! GREATTTTT but how in the hell are you going to LIVE?!

These days the artist that thrives off of their talent, hands, have ended. The BUSINESS of art, is what is actually killing the desire for original art!

Back in the day you had an artist, people wanted their work and would pay what they could to get it...much like the tattoo artists of today. But then Big Biz stepped on the artists in an effort to make more money than God.

The Big Biz guys stormed into the small cities and towns and declaired, "DO YOU WANT A FAMILY PORTRAIT? WELL USE A CAMERA!" Then the artists had a challenge on their hands that had not occurred before. There was a demand for mass produced equipment that was cheap enough for the masses to buy; which enabled them to do a good enough job of capturing their family for themselves. The artist was left out in the cold playing with the same equipment. Before an artist was REQUIRED to do the job...now everyone can do it themselves faster and cheaper!

So what is an artist to do these days? You can sit around your house or studio and paint, draw sculpt for yourself and friends. At least then you don't have to buy holiday gifts right? But how does an artist "Make it?"

Big Biz is the grouping of great minds so that they can produce the best quality product for the lowest price. Sounds great right? But the truth is there is a death of the artist, the creative, the innovative when they join a Big Biz company. Why? Think of it this way, the artist that paints portraits or landscapes does so for themselves most of the time. They have a collection of their work. Their family, friends and people that they owe have a collection as well...but that is it. There is no fame, no recognition and certainly no money.

Then out of desperation the artist goes to a company that advertised a need for artists to do what they wanted. If hired the artist will work 8-10 hours a day creating the designs that the company wished. When they get home, the artist is too tired to paint or draw for their own projects.

We the consumer are pleased because we can get shirts, bed sheets, towels and rugs with this artists' work...but THEY that did the art never see a penny more than their initial contract (if THAT.)

The artist that creates, develops their art for a paycheck lose their art, they trade it for money and security. You can live, but you can't use what you created to help yourself live better.

That is a heavy trade off for an artist. We have a very free spirit that is all about creativity and beauty...when a cold company takes that and turns your beauty into profit for them, but give you a paycheck (which is a minute fraction of what they earned off of your work) it feeds the consumer but murders the artist.

BUT Big Biz offers SECURITY. That is worth the trade right? Sure, you get a steady paycheck, you get insurance and the claims of money in your old age...but are you CERTAIN that they will pay up when the time comes?

The other thing that you may not know is that there are rights to an artists' work. Oh yes. You CANNOT take another artists work and call it your own. You can't take it and sell it without permission or money to the artist that created it. You can't use another artists' idea without their permission. So the artist holds all the power when they create art...

BUT THE BUSINESS BREAKS DOWN BECAUSE THEY CAN'T PUT THEIR ART INTO A CUSTOMERS HANDS! The customers today are used to the Big Biz deal busters...why buy an original painting when you can buy a print for under $50? Why pay a portrait artist for a painting when you can order a picture to appear like a painting for under $200?

The artist is removed from the individual deals so that Big Biz can make the most profit off of large numbers of people. The artist to survive can't compete with abused people working in sweatshops around the world.

Furthermore the customer today typically works for a Big Biz, so they DON'T have enough money to buy original art dirict from an artist, they HAVE to buy art at Big Biz prices thus give Big Biz more of their own money back!

What is the solution? Working for both, but who has the stamina to do so? Then here, we get into another issue...one that working artists know all too well. You can earn enough money for your family to live, BUT YOU ARE NOT THERE TO LIVE WITH YOUR FAMILY! An artist works all day then comes home when it is late and the day is done. All you hear are the stories of the things you missed. There is a tear in the soul of the working artist, you want to be home, yet can't afford to STAY home. You CAN stay home AND have a great quality of life, but in a cardboard box.

Art Agents OR galleries are they the answer? Middle people that get between the big customers and the artists just so they can make a living off of art without being able to do it themselves. Agents in Illustration are the middle men between Big Biz that requires artists to run their Biz, but don't have them on full time staff. Free lance illustrators are these artists. They can make money selling their art and copyrights to Big Biz to use for their products to entice the customer to buy. But STILL the artist needs to give away a percentage to an Agent that attracts these projects frequently enough for the artist to live. Agents for galleries or gallery owners position themselves in much the same way. Why try to do art and sell it to a few people when you can selectively take almost half from ALL the artists that sell through you?

The art for Galleries and illustrations is still NOT their art. It is the art for the product and Biz. The artist still has ideas, creations and work to be done but it is pushed to the side for the money required for their family to live. But at least they are in a home studio. Gallery Artists do their own work to be sold, so they are ultimately conscious that the work needs to be of a certain look or appeal TO BE sold by the Gallery they represent.