On being an artist

Artist salary

This title makes you giggle.

Everything always works out.

You think of the lottery as a possibility since you once won 10 couronnes.

And you might sell some work in your upcoming show.

You get excited for the compensation from the Autumn Exhibition.

A little too excited.

You forget that it is your right to be compensated.

Where does money come from?

We’re unable to grant you a loan.

We’re unable to expand your credit.

Some times you panic and think you must get a ‘real’ job.

But what else do you know how to do?

How do other people earn money?

You can’t give up now, you have ‘momentum’.

As mentioned before, you COULD sell an image soon.

You take assignments.

You understand that they’re an artist run company and that they can only pay you a symbolic fee.

You learn a lot the time it takes you to do research and write the essay.

It’s like a win win.

Although your bank might not agree.

But when your account is in plus they’re not that important anymore.

You’re (literally) not here for the money.

From 2013 to 2019 I self-published a fanzine series using photographs and text to talk about how it is to work as an artist, with the aim of shedding light on aspects of artists' conditions. This is a text from one of them.