Art is never free — can we make this clear?
The infamous Picasso Napkin story:
The story goes that Picasso was sitting in a Paris café when an admirer approached and asked if he would do a quick sketch on a paper napkin.
Picasso took a charcoal pencil from his pocket made a rapid sketch of a goat. It took only a few strokes, yet was unmistakably a Picasso. The man reached out for the napkin, but Picasso did not hand it over. “You owe me €85,00,” he said.
The man was outraged. “€85,000? Why? That took you no more than 30 seconds to draw!”
Picasso crumpled up the napkin and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. “You are wrong,” he said, dismissing the man. “It took me 40 years.”
This is a telling story concerning business and art. The angry man had failed to value the years of invisible work that had gone into Picasso’s napkin sketch.
One of the inconvenient truths of being a creative person, whether you’re an artist, filmmaker, musician, or writer, is that non-creative types rarely appreciate the fact that you’ve spent years developing and honing your skills in the same way that doctors, lawyers, and scientists do. As a result, you’ll often be asked to create work for free; by those who simply know no better or those willing to exploit your skills and measure of worth.
Seldom do we get to witness the gruelling year-long process behind the construction of a seminal album or the painting of an artist’s magnum opus. Instead, it’s the musician’s edited tour footage or the varnished oil painting adorning the wall of a gallery. It’s easy to romanticise and devalue creative work in this manner. It’s easy for us to fall in love with the outcome, and it’s even easier to consume it. But it takes a tremendous amount of effort to tirelessly partake in the creation of anything. Perhaps we need to focus more on sharing the process of our creation and the hurdles we encounter in reaching the final outcome. Presenting the end result in isolation naively flaunts creative work through rose-tinted glasses.
This can often lead to undermining statements from those that subscribe to the belief of effortless mastery. They are quick to attribute one’s mastery to innate fortune, rather than dedicating their own time to the craft. Inviting insight into the often arduous creative process will redefine the way creativity is consumed. It will make non-creatives more mindful and grateful of the creative products that exist everywhere around us.
With this in mind, creatives should familiarise themselves with their own creative worth and never deviate from this. Know your price and stick to it, no matter what offers may come your way; your price tag is your benchmark of quality.
If someone values your work, they should value your time equally and pay you for your services. Creative services should be treated no differently to any other professional services.
The Renaissance, like everything else, had to be financed.
Most artwork goes from a studio to a private collection, then a museum or gallery, then back to another collection. Along the way, there are people who make money from the sale, trade and display of these pieces. So please tell me why their creators shouldn’t have the same opportunity to earn a living from their talents and efforts?
The value of work is determined by the art market and if the market sets a high value, why should the artist not be fairly compensated for the creation of something that bears currency in the world. At the end of the day, any level of a visual or fine artist should not be expected just to work for the ‘privilege’ of exposure.
Fellow creatives, just an idea: stop working for free so the rest of us aren’t expected to do the same. Creating artwork for free is the worst move to make. It’s half the reason art is seldom viewed as a lucrative career.
If you fail to see value in your own work, you can’t expect others to; and you’re creating inconveniences for the rest of us. In turn, these repercussions are felt in the creative industry as a whole. I mean, just think for a minute how different it would be if everyone with artistic skill charged for their work — imagine that *Nas voice*.
Artists can’t live off of compliments. It’s easy to overlook the hard work involved, but this has to change. Working for free under the guise of exposure isn’t putting money on the table. It’s time to start valuing creatives more. Creatives are the most powerful people of this generation.
At the end of the day, there is nothing more satisfying than getting paid for being you, in a world where so many of us find ourselves trapped in jobs we don’t enjoy.
And remember, art is worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.
