Member-only story
Of Course We Should Have Middle-Class Artists
Spending more of our time making art might be the best thing we can do for the world.
In a world on the brink of collapse due to overconsumption and unequal ownership of dwindling resources, art is just about the only thing we need to make more of.
Only a minute fraction of creators go on to the find mega-stardom required to get rich from making art, and to imagine this represents some kind of meritocracy is just stupid. The world is full of talented people who live to create but don’t have the connections, luck or financial resources to find success in a hyper-competitive, nepotistic and authoritarian economy. Many of these people must sideline their innate talents and true passions to pursue day jobs that barely pay the bills. If they want to live comfortably, they often must work such long hours in such grueling industries that their true passions become haunting memories.
Defenders of the status quo would imagine there’s some kind of justice to this. “That ‘artist’ just doesn’t have what it takes,” is the party line, parroted ad nauseam despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Whether the artist’s perceived “not enough-ness” is attributed to lack of talent, lack of dedication or determination or lack of widespread appeal, the fault for an artist not…
