How to be an artist.

joybetluck · Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 154

How is it that some artist can get away with it and others don't?
I am thinking of political operas under Mao which I think no one watch these days but managed to attract loads of admirers in their time.
The Dada movement in Europe which elevated rubbish into an art form.
In Britain we have the running tap performance artist.
Locally we have historical and art museum housing nothing more than rubbish recycled from the local dump.
Yet we have no say in how the money is spent just as we have no say over the bbc licensing fee which goes up and up and is almost one sixth of my council tax!
Is a bachelor degree the minimum to prove that you are a living artist and do you need to be under the tutelage of a recognised academic?

Edwina Lee · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 661 Location: High Wycombe, UK

I wouldn't say artists are getting away with anything. They are usually valued when they are dead because the market valuation convention is that rarity drives up prices. This applies to artists like painters and sculpters. The value of an artist's work is caused by the existence of markets, and the markets are created by the market makers who bring buyers and sellers together, and a valuation convention and profession gives the art work their value.

In a wider conception of artists, they are communicators. Many artists create a role for themselves to attract attention to what they have noticed as worthwhile, and it isn't always beauty but also purposeful, or even ugliness.

However, Neccessity is the Mother of All Inventions.

This is really the driving force or cause of art as well as science and mathematics.

Edwina Lee · Joined: 06 Oct 2006 Posts: 661 Location: High Wycombe, UK

An artist does not need qualifications to call themselves an artist, unlike medicine or engineering for example where safety are paramount.

The famous artist Beryl Cook who died a few days ago has had no formal training at all. She started drawing when she was over 40 years old. The BBC calls her the most popular artist of Britain.

I love her work.

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