Why would anyone become an artist?

The contemporary artist faces enormous odds of achieving great recognition or monetary success. This is just a fact of the world we live in. Art jobs generally do not pay high wages, and the freelance artist will almost certainly suffer a financial deficit. Even artists who sell their work and get recognition tend to suffer. Society does not see the independent artist as worthy of a large income. The artist is not considered as important as a doctor or a lawyer or even a garbage man. After all, garbage workers earn comfortable professional-level salaries. In our society, we pay people based on the respect we have for them and the level of importance we place on their work. This means that artists are not considered vital.

Of course, this is not true for all artists. There will always be a handful of living artists to whom we place great value and respect along with financial rewards. These artists will be promoted by the institutions created for the exaltation of art, and their work will become part of our social conscience. I’m not talking about these artists, but about the millions of independent artists (musicians, writers, artists, painters, sculptors, etc.) who will live and die anonymously.

So, against these odds, why the hell would anyone become an artist? If you are a father and your son tells you that he wants to be an artist, how would you react? You’d probably say something to the effect that while it’s good to make art, it’s not a good career choice. I would probably kindly encourage them to take some art courses, but stay focused on getting into law school. I can hear these conversations taking place all over the world. A similar conversation took place between me and my parents when I told them I was majoring in art, so I speak from experience.

However, the very expensive art schools are full of students eager to pursue art as a lifelong career. Every major university in America has an art department and art majors, as well as music departments, writing departments, and theater departments. Presumably, those students graduate and go out into the world as artists. At least for a while, as many of them eventually succumb to the realities of our culture and take up more profitable professions. Still, they carry their art education with them, and I am sure that education supports their life choices and well-being.

Art, you see, is a vocation. He calls one to follow him, and he does not know the economic conditions of our time. Art only knows that it is irrevocably fixed to the human spirit. According to the philosopher Jean Luc Nancy, “beauty is the radiance of the true” (1.) In his essay, Nancy refers to art as the expression of beauty and, therefore, the embodiment of the true. This truth is the truth of which Aristotle spoke and is the essence of what is good and meaningful for humanity. It is what all human beings should achieve in terms of their lives. That is why art calls certain people, because it is a call to the splendor of the true, and it is essential to humanity.

Look back in the history of the human race and you will see that this is so. The Lascaux cave paintings were made between 15,000 and 13,000 BC. The oldest cave paintings date from 30,000 BC. The Lascaux paintings are huge and took many years to complete. Archaeologists have discovered holes in the walls that they believe once supported beams for scaffolding. They have also found old lamps for burning animal fat and bowls for mixing pigments. All of which means that these early artists required help. One artist would have had to paint while others moved scaffolding, mixed pigments, kept lamps burning, and collected food. This is a lot of work considering the harsh conditions of the time and the emphasis placed on survival over culture. For whatever reason, these people felt that making art was just as important as surviving. They were willing to set aside precious energy and resources to engage in this art-making activity. There must have been some innate calling in them to make these paintings, a need that went beyond the desire to decorate.

This is not the only time this has occurred. Time and time again, when humans are in their worst conditions, they manage to make art. During World War II, art was made in concentration camps and prisoner of war camps. The artists took pieces of charcoal or a piece of pencil and created images. Some of them were made to document his suffering and some were made as a means of mental escape. These artists put themselves in terrible danger to make this art, and it took the energy out of their survival strategies.

One such artist was Benjamin Charles Steele (1917). Steele was stationed in the Philippines in World War II. He survived the Bataan death march and the internment at Cabanatuan. (This was the largest POW camp on foreign soil; 9,000 people lived there, 3,000 Americans died there. The mortality rate was 38%). Steele survived dysentery, pneumonia, blood poisoning, and forced labor. When he was assigned to Tayabas Road Detail, Steele worked in the jungle without food or water and was the only one of fifty people to survive. At some point, Steele began drawing pictures of his fellow inmates as an act of honor to them. In her essay on Steele, author Penny Ronning states that “Without formal art training, Ben began drawing on whatever scraps of paper he could find images of what his eyes had seen and his mind worked overtime to process. These drawings were Ben’s style of honoring his fallen comrades and recording their experiences. At the risk of dying if found out, Ben continued to pay tribute by secretly drawing the bravery of every soldier facing the most horrifying human cruelty. Sadly, all but two of the Ben’s drawings were lost on a transport ship” (2)

Following the heroism of Steele, as well as that of many other artists who have come before and after him, having been forced to make art despite the circumstances; therefore, it must be concluded that art is somehow linked to the most elemental parts of our humanity. It is linked in a way that goes beyond social conventions. It is rooted in the depths of our souls; down there with our instincts to survive, procreate and exist. It must be on the same level as the ant’s instinct to dig or the bee’s instinct to build combs. The artist is forced to examine his world and try to explain it through his unique vision and his participation in life. As Carl Jung said:

“Every creator is a duality or a synthesis of contradictory aptitudes. On the one hand he is a human being with a personal life, while on the other hand it is an impersonal, creative process… The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but who allows art to fulfill its purposes through it. As a human being, he may have personal moods, wills and goals, but as an artist he is ‘man’ in a higher sense. -he is the ‘collective man’–one who leads and shapes the psychic and unconscious life of humanity. To perform this difficult job it is sometimes necessary for him to sacrifice happiness and everything that makes life worth living for the common human being.” (3.)

So, going back to the initial question: why would someone become an artist? Perhaps a better question might be, why would someone choose not to become an artist? It is a wonderful vocation that goes far beyond the ability of the artist to earn money or easily adapt to the social conventions of success. It is a vital component of being fully human.

1. (Jean Luc Nancy, Four Little Dialogues, p.112).

2. Penny Ronning: http://nonsilentmajority.typepad.com/the_nonsilent_majority/film/.

3. Carl Gustave Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul, 1933, Harvest Book, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., New York, 1961 paperback, pp. 168-171.