Money was very important in my family. If you had money, it meant that you were successful. But I also saw that money did not necessarily make you like your work. And I wanted to like my work. So now I like my work. And I make no money.Maybe it's a lack of ambition, an inability to play the game properly. But it's also an undervaluing of design in our culture. This is on both sides—the designer and the client. If you are a lawyer, you most likely don't sit around pondering insecurely about getting paid for your services. And, correct me if I am wrong, but if you are a lawyer or a doctor, I doubt that every time you give a price, people want to nickel and dime you.
It is funny that art and design are so undervalued in a culture whose media puts them on a pedestal. When you go to the movies, the hero/ine is often some sort of artist—writer, painter, photographer. They always have these really cool apartments, great clothes, great cars. And I cannot stop thinking "No way in hell they could afford that!" A great example is the movie A Lot Like Love. Yes I saw it. But in my defense, I was being held hostage on an airplane in the friendly skies. What the hell else am I going to do? Anyway, Amanda Peet's character is this typical artsy, floundering type in the beginning. Later she tries to be an actress. Meanwhile she is living in this HUGE apartment in LA. Then she has sex with the Ashton Kucher character and when he leaves in the morning he leaves behind his 35 mm camera. And as soon as I saw that I thought, "SHE IS GOING TO BECOME A PHOTOGRAPHER!" Man, I could write this shit. So sure enough, when they meet up again two years later, she is not only a paid photographer with loads of clients, but SHE HAS A GALLERY SHOW. If it were only that fucking easy.
So my question of the day is "If we all think art and artists are so interesting—whay don't we pay them a liveable wage?" And not only do we not pay them, but we charge them a HUGE amount of money to go to art school. I will probably be DEAD before my student loans are paid off.
Take my friend Clare, for example. She is an amazing painter. I love her stuff. She works hard and she and her artist husband and their three year-old daughter live in a teeny tiny apartment trying to make ends meet. Meanwhile, somebody is making butloads of money for crunching some numbers and filing some briefs (don't get me wrong. All work is HARD.) But how about some equality here people.
I suppose that the lawyers and doctors and bankers can all enjoy their money while everyone else struggles. And I suppose that people like Clare should take solace. They can make beautiful paintings like this:
