You Are an artist, Just like Vincent Van Gogh
Mundane activities typically do not jump to mind when someone asks, “Are you an artist?” Usually, we think of painters, musicians, and actors. On the other hand, an artist is someone who has an experience that elicits a profound sense of freedom. They can create an experience of liberty for others, themselves, or feel said emotion from someone else’s creation. The freedom felt is not just about a sense of liberty, but a sense that individuals can feel free to experience a range of emotions provoked by a person, moment, or thing. The individual is not limited to one emotion, to the emotion they might feel they are “supposed” to feel but the emotions and reactions that arise. One might argue that an artist is a professional focused on skill and income, however, an artist is someone who experiences emotional freedom: all sentient beings. The emotion that artful moments bring is one of emotional liberty, whether it’s sadness, joy, serenity, or anger- the moments have no limit. Artists feel a pause in time, where the feelings they create or find are limitless to their depth and perception. This revised and more inclusive definition allows for the inclusion of non-traditional artists. However, it cannot be denied that many artists themselves and much of society focus on the income an occupation makes. Traditional painters, actors, and musicians aren’t always able to find financial security through their passion: a value is often placed on their artistic freedom. As for other occupations, ones that don’t immediately seem artistic, the focus on money is again present. Regardless of profession or job, an artist is someone who experiences deep emotional freedom activated by others, events, or even themselves.
In the New York Times in 2022, Ligaya Mishan argues that an artist’s purpose is to defy conforming with society and “rebel on the fringes” (Mishan). According to Mishan the artists themselves are rebels as they are not conforming to a desk job with constricting criteria. Nevertheless, the income and “successfulness” of an artist do not necessarily guarantee them the means to thrive, much less survive. Mishan writes, “art itself is not a steady practice but a matter of a moment’s revelation” (Mishan). She believes that it is a “moment’s revelation” until they are forced to take on a mundane job and lose their status as a rebel. Yet the essence “of a moment’s revelation” is parallel to the concept that artists can be found in all people. “A moment’s revelation” elicits the very sense of freedom that allows all human beings to be artists regardless of their training or occupation. When researching various definitions of an artist, finances continue to appear.
An internet search for how to make it in the world as a traditional artist result in articles about “How to make it as an artist,” not in the sense of tapping into the freedom of expression but how to make money from one’s art. This is so prevalent that New York Magazine makes fun of the idea that in order to be an artist you need to generate money through art; only then are you a valid artist (New York Magazine). The magazine provides “a tongue-in-cheek rulebook for how to make it in the art world now — as artist, gallerist, collector, hanger-on” (New York Magazine). By making fun of the expectation that everyone must make a living from their art, the point it makes is that there really is no rulebook when it comes to artists. The lack of a rulebook highlights the reality that there are no rules when it comes to being an artist: being an artist is about the freedom of emotions one feels. When it comes to the titles of various resources some read, “Get Born Into It” and “Reject the Market, Embrace the Market,” all titles of irony to emphasize the message which challenges the assumption that an income must be made from art expands the definition of an artist (New York Magazine). This article does it by using “tongue-in-cheek.” However, what do artists say?
The 2010 National Arts Alumni Project conducted a survey that questioned the link between artists and their careers. They report “ A qualitative analysis of survey comments reveals unique forms of dissonance over artistic membership within teaching and design careers” (Lena and Lindemann). Even the artists who work in the arts don’t necessarily agree that an artist is defined by the job. One Fine Arts artist responded with, “I believe that a professional artist means that they work in the industry, with a steady job” (Lena and Lindemann). Another wrote in, “[T]he moment I come off of a tour I don’t stop being an actor. I’m always an actor, paid or not” (Lena and Lindemann). Their explicit contradiction amounts to them as proof that the definition of an artist is complicated. Due to the complexity, the definition should be expanded.
From the start of their childhood, everyone is asked at least once to create some type of art. Either they excel at rending their assigned subject or they don’t define their talent or identity. If they don’t produce something that follows traditional lines of art they are not considered an artist by society. This has been the primary way of defining art, limited to activities such as painting, drawing, acting, singing, and music. Yet, everyone is an artist. Being an artist is about the emotional freedom that one gives or receives. Emotional freedom allows individuals to feel a bottomless space where their sentiments are not binary or finite but flowing and ever-changing.
Works Cited
Higgins, Linda. “Immersive Van Gogh.” Van Gogh Dublin, May 17, 2022, https://irishtechnews-ie.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screenshot-2022-05-17-at-18.02.18.jpg?lossy=1&ssl=1. January 18, 2022.
Lena, Jennifer C., and Danielle J. Lindemann. “Who Is an Artist?” Science Direct, Apr. 2014, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304422X14000023. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.
Mishan, Ligaya. “What Does It Really Mean to Make Art?” New York Times Style Magazine, Apr. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/t-magazine/work-life-balance-art.html. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.
New York Magazine. “How to Make It in the Art World.” New York Magazine, 2012, nymag.com/arts/art/rules/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.
Steinhauer, Jillian. “What Makes an Artist an Artist?” Hyperallergic, 20 Mar. 2014, hyperallergic.com/115627/what-makes-an-artist-an-artist/ . Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.
Takahiro Iwasaki, Geo Eye (Victoria Peak) (2012) https://news.artnet.com/art-world/making-art-from-mundane-materials-900188 Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.
