The life of an independent artist can be interesting. 'Earning a living with the left hand', the age-old herculean task of the independent artist, means pursuing menial occupations and during free time unclogging drains in rentals and changing fan belts on old cars -- any of which requires at least two hands. Every moment of studio time is borrowed time. There’s no money and no prospect of money since the artwork the independent artist produces isn’t being seen anywhere at the moment. There’s a chance for exposure, maybe finding a patron or selling a piece of work, if they can somehow be accepted in a competition, receive a grant or some shred of recognition. Not likely.
Most independent artists are capable people qualified for some profession or at least finding institutional refuge, but they chose to take a stand, to look for compensation by contributing to the culture on their own. No one is good enough to do this when they start so there are hours, months, years of practice for which they are not paid. In fact, the space they use, the supplies they buy, the time they spend are all done at sacrifice to the rest of life. Not only that.
There are in-laws who seriously believe the artist somehow isn’t suited to real work, specifically the condescending brother-in-law, and at the holidays sometimes more settled siblings can’t resist a little good-natured sarcasm. Other people’s expectations are a load, and an aspiring artist must bide their time with grace. Luckily the humility of the hourly wage and stretched thin credit helps to keep the ego tamped down, and, of course there’s always frustration and failure in the studio, the obstinacy of the material, the beyond-the-horizon nature of the destination.
Across town there’s a crew of artists with parking spaces, and several other advantages -- income, respect, studios and tons of supplies, with access to galleries and printing services. A university professor has a very different lifestyle and a very different approach to art, since theirs is a different constituency. Slick as it sounds it’s a bargain some pass on, but that’s not the point. Seems the people they went to school with now make all the decisions about who gets accepted in competitions, and who receives grants, and what sort of art rates attention in media, and their hothouse state-supported franchise can sure seem like the only game in town.
So what does the independent artist strive for, what’s the motivation? This isn’t going to be an easy question to answer. Some just want to support their studio and look for acceptance in terms of sales in a local genre market, but there are those who make art out of personal experience and an inherited tradition which transcends time-bound politics and momentary cultural trends. These have a special problem.
There’s no forum for what they do. A lot of people who make honest efforts at independence, time and energy, give up at some point and hire out half their talent. If they never reach their potential, I might suggest that artists who receive only enough support to stay in their studios are going to get better. A cigar box full of rejections from local and regional competitions, arduous grant applications pre-destined to flush on arrival, and stony indifference from gallery directors who only read resumes can, on the other hand, harden the attitude, temper resolve, and burst into flame in front of an easel. Can’t say why -- some folks just like going up hill.
Unspoken is the secret quest that secretly unites these by now extremely independent trekkers out where sign posts are faded and reliably wrong. They seek the grail of ‘undeniability’, each in their own way. They’re trying to create a work of art so compelling, so articulate, so profoundly universal that even a totally apathetic art establishment will have to notice. It’s a very steep hill. If you challenge them they aren’t going to like your stuff, period end, but painters all around are trying anyway. It’s out of this impossibility they find the drive to get better and isn’t that what being an artist is all about?
Anyway that’s the way it’s been. When the organic local-source food movement finds art, and when area artists begin to appear in alternative spaces, restaurants, salons, and offices, the public will begin to realize what’s been missing all along. ‘Undeniable’ will merely have to be accessible for independent artists to survive and for their work to be up all over town.
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