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Invasion of the Artists

This morning, the New York Times published an article about the new National Endowment for the Arts’ “Artists in the Workforce” report stating that “more Americans identify their primary occupation as artist than as lawyer, doctor, police officer or farm worker.” The article goes on to say:

In 2005 nearly two million Americans said their primary employment was in jobs that the census defines as artists’ occupations — including architects, interior designers and window dressers. Their combined income was about $70 billion, a median of $34,800 each. Another 300,000 said artist was their second job.

In a field that doesn’t require licenses, degrees or certification (for the most part), anyone can declare themselves an artist, and many do. That is part of the beauty of the art world – it embraces its amateurs. From blue-haired hobbyists to Chelsea district veterans, all are artists. There is no such thing as an amateur or self-taught doctor (although there is one in Cloverdale, Indiana that I might argue learned medicine through Childcraft Encyclopedias and a workshop series at the community center), however amateur artists can still claim the title “artist.” Degrees are offered in art and people can be declared “masters” through such programs, but higher education is not required to be a functioning artist.

A portion of art’s longevity can be attributed to this permissiveness. Art could just as easily fall into the traps of “professional” trades: canonized methods, rote memorization and approved techniques. Many people still feel that the move into Modernism never really happened – that art’s trajectory actually followed classic and traditional norms and that what historians call Modernism was not actually art – that art is still a trade of sorts. From that view, art could be a profession that relies on licenses and certification for validation. But, art as we know it is a shifting, disagreeable, motley brew, and that is where its strength lies.

Art allows and even welcomes discord, contrasting views, challenges, schisms and varying skill and education levels. This diversity creates many entry points for people to understand and appreciate art. Therefore, Bob Ross is just as important to the art world as Gerhard Richter; Lawrence Welk is as practical as John Cage; and Carrie Ann Inaba is as useful as Meredith Monk. We’ll take all of you!

Joseph Beuys, who constantly petitioned for wider definitions of art, stated, “Every human being is an artist.” This was not meant that every person is a practitioner of traditional artistic methods, but that creativity, as a social currency, is available to all and all should use it within their fields whether it be law, nursing or agriculture. This new application of creativity was to lead to what Beuys called “social sculpture” – an all-encompassing artwork that deals with economies, societies, cultures, politics, etc.

I side with Beuys when it comes to expanding definitions of art and artists. If each person would approach problems with artistic creativity no matter their employment, rather than defaulting to threadbare traditional solutions that may not work well if at all, then society as a whole would be in a much better state. I hope that by the next census 100% of Americans declare their first profession as artist and their second job as… well, their job.

Additional Resources

• Americans, Beware! Artists Are All Around You! (New York Magazine)

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