The Death of the Full-Time Artist (And Who's to Blame)

Show Notes: https://hyperluxmagazine.com/curated-muse-podcast-the-death-of-the-full-time-artist-and-whos-to-blame/

Transcript

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Hello, lovely humans. It is a pleasure to be back with you, sharing a new podcast episode with you. And this podcast episode, we are going to be discussing how challenging the world of art is currently. Now, I think anybody who listens to this, that is creative, who understands the art world in general, recognizes that the art world has never been amazing and wonderful and easy to navigate. The art world is a beautiful place, that is true. It is wonderful. But navigating it as an artist, as a creative, as a person who's putting themselves out there isn't always easy. We can see a lot of people who have become successful through their creativity, through painting and music and all of the different things you can do in the creative arts. But we also see hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of people who won't even get a like on a piece of art that they created or a piece of music they wrote. And even now, the world is more saturated. When you think about social media and all the platforms and all the ways that we can create and do things, there's a lot more access. So there's a lot more people creating and there's a lot more voices wanting to be heard. And there are a lot more voices that can be heard based on how many platforms we have out there. But that also creates an amplification of of people that may never have ever got their voice out there before, which is great, but it also creates a very loud and intense amount of information that we're all taking in. So as much as we might like a piece of art, maybe we won't like it or say anything about it because we're seeing hundreds of pieces of art on Instagram a day. And unless something is really magical and completely shakes you up, you might just like scroll right past it. And in that, being an artist and a creator, when you're looking at yourself on social media and you're watching your likes decline over the last few years. Now, this is for people, if you have been on social media as an artist over the last 10 years, there's been a great decline. I mean, you have people with Facebook pages with 400,000 followers who get 10 likes because the algorithm has created a mess. And we just wrote a blog on that on the Hyperlux magazine. So go ahead and check that out where we talk about how social media is really affecting artists. So When we're talking about the world and how challenging it is, we want to think about practical ways to make it easier for artists and creatives. And number one is realizing that this is happening to everybody. Even people that I've known as an artist and a gallerist and a curator who have been very well renowned, who have shown and had major solo exhibitions and really great galleries, who've shown in museums, who used to sell left and right, are having a problem selling. And even if you look at the world all the way up to the blue chip world, you will see that there's a lot of shifting and changing as well. A lot of galleries are closing. A lot of galleries are combining forces and bringing on all their artists together or letting a bunch of their roster go. Because the world is shifting and it's becoming obviously more challenging as time goes on. So if you are an artist out there, recognizing first and foremost that it's not you. It's really the world around you. I mean, I can't look at your art and say that it isn't you. Like, let's be honest. really fair here. I can't say that because maybe it is you and we all have to look at ourselves and decide if it is us. But really, if you're putting your time in, you're doing the good work, you're continually trying to up your game and grow as an artist, then you should have some sense of support behind you. And not having that support is really challenging. Or if the people that used to have a lot of support who don't have support. I can't tell you again how many artists that I've talked to who used to have a really great following on TikTok or Instagram or Facebook or other platforms. Even YouTube is going through this where there's a lot of YouTube creators which are more like crafty artists and people that do product reviews which I absolutely love watching those and they're amazing. But people who have had hundreds and thousands of followers are now seeing their engagement just plummet. So it's not you. And I want to be clear about that. I want you to take that in and really understand that it's not you. I think everybody is feeling it. And those that aren't, that are saying that they're not, I think some of it's a little bit of posture change. A little bit of trying to hide behind the feelings that it doesn't feel really good when you're doing really good and you're not doing really good. And there are people that are doing good. There are people who are doing absolutely amazing still and good for them. But a large majority aren't. And I want you to know it's not you. And that's really all this podcast is about. It's a simple, short, five to 10 minute podcast where I just tell you it's not you. The world is shifting. The art world is shifting. The gallery world is shifting. The economy is shifting. The politics are shifting. Everything is having this humongous shift and push and pull. And we're all trying to find our way within the world. And the arts isn't as supported when we are going through economical and political upheaval. It's just not a focus. And it's funny because people think, oh, they should take funding away from art and all of that. And art really doesn't do anything. But even politicians and the president and us as human beings, all we do is engage in creativity. We watch videos and movies and we listen to music and we go and we watch plays and we read magazines and we read books. I mean, almost everything that we're doing that's extracurricular besides sports and other things revolve around the arts. But yet when things get challenging, those kind of things get pushed, you know, aside. So if you are creative and you're listening to this, just remember that creativity is salvation. It is a place to put your energy. It is a place to explore yourself and your surroundings and what's going on in the world. And even if you aren't getting the likes and the follows and the support that you really hope that you could get, know that a lot of people are in the same boat, even those that used to get a lot of support. And just take that in stride. Try to look at what you do as a practice. something that you enjoy, and something that doesn't necessarily need a bunch of likes. And I think that's a really good place to start because when you're creative, when you look at social media and other things that artists engage in, it actually creates a lot of mental health problems because it's hard not to feel bad when somebody isn't liking your work. It's hard not to feel bad when you weren't being noticed and you put so much effort into something and then all of a sudden somebody posts a picture of their cat and they've got 10,000 likes on it. Doesn't feel very good. But the reality is we live in a place where everything is curated and everything is instant and a lot of authenticity is being lost. And as long as you remain authentic to yourself and you move away from your desire and need to have all of these likes and follows and all of that nonsense, which again, I'm not saying aren't important. I'm not saying it isn't an important aspect of being a creative, wanting to be a professional creative if you're not being seen. How are people going to buy your work? How are you going to have somebody find you? All of that matters. but don't let it get you down. Don't let it destroy your day. Don't let it destroy your creativity. Keep doing it, keep showing up, and support other people. That's the other thing. Turn around, make sure that you're liking other people, you're supporting other people, because when we want something, it's really good to get It's really good to get things, but it's also good to give the things that we want to receive. So if you want to receive more likes and support, then you should go give some more likes and support. And sometimes that does create a circle of reciprocity, which is awesome. So I'm going to end this podcast with this is not you. The world is changing. Keep doing what you love and keep making the art and things that you enjoy and just don't give up. Things will change. They always do.