Commercial Art vs. Art for Art’s Sake
Sunday
May 21, 2006
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In retrospect to my last post on waiting for one’s muse, here’s another question that’s undoubtedly had its share of time in many an artist’s mind: the art-for-money vis-a-vis art-for-art issue. Lyndon Gregorio has some thoughts:
Should an artist pursue sellable art or should he create art for art’s sake? The first doesn’t really push the envelope while the latter doesn’t really pay the bills.
Lyndon considers himself both an artist and an entrepreneur (IMHO, entrepreneurship is, to some extent, intrinsic in being an artist). His business card says “Creator,” as his title. And guess how he responds to the question? Do ‘em both!
The lesson is an artist worth his/her salt can create both commercial and artistically compelling art, even separately. You can try to make both in a single product, but the driving forces between the commercial and artistic are mutually exclusive.
Ever wonder why the J Spot has no ads? You may be wondering how I monetize this blog if there’s no hint of any advertisement around, contextual or otherwise (I have AdSense on most of my other sites, though, even the old J Spot). I’ll write about this later. But suffice to say for now that I’d rather not be pressured to earn from this site—at least for now. And let’s just say that I’d rather build up my site’s intrinsic value first before venturing into monetization, if at all!
Yes, I consider blogging as an art form, or at least a form of creative expression (hey, we write, don’t we?).
Comments
jhay
May 21st, 2006 at 8:13 am
I think you really can’t seperate the two, you’re an artist so you’ll create art, but you’re also a human being with basic needs and wants so you have to earn something for subsistence, commercial art kicks in. Purists who abhor the idea of creating art for trade or commercial purposes are living in a different age, it’s the capitalist age already, everything else is now being traded as a commodity, art incldued.
As for art for art’s sake, I’m not a big fan of this line. Art in all of its form was created for a purpose, whatever that purpose is, and not just for the heck of it.
Lex
May 22nd, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Talents are not intended to be hiden or stay stagnant, to my opion that is. If I were given the skill I’ll use to the full extent in whatever I could but never to harm anyone. If there’s anyone who really wants to show his/her appreciation of my talent won’t they do it by helping me financially?
If I had the talent to assemble and fix things (computers perhaps) I’d like to earn from that talent. If I had been bestowed with the gift of artistic inclination, I like to profit from it.
It’s these skills that somebody may be looking for I’m not going to deprive him/her of the pleasure praising my work. I’m sure he/she would not also mind allowing me to profit by my own creation.