Is anyone making any money ?

[Keropian]

As a sculptor for over a hundred years, I always strive for the grand commissions, the projects that keep you in the studio for months on end and give you the opportunity and inspiration to create, design and possibly fabricate with fellow artisans. I can only anticipate the commissions rolling in like thunder and the waves of popularity splashing me in the face. The visual is stimulating as one steps back to get a glance of this fantasia. It's only a matter of time before the first of many people get a spark of inspiration and then go on and inspire millions.

[Dries]

I got married at the age of 23 and always knew that I wanted to be an artist, hopefully rich and successful. Soon kids followed and my dreams were put aside because I wanted to provide for my family and a 9-5 job was doing just that.

Some 10 years ago I discussed my dreams with my wife and we agreed to give sculpting a try, paid a fortune to bronze 1 pc and took it to some local galleries to sell. My work was not of a good standard and the needless to say the piece is still with me. I knew then that I would not be able to give my family the best in life if I tried to make a living as a sculptor.

My kids will be finished with school in the next 4years and financially we are strong so decided to take up sculpting again as a hobby. If I sell some sculptures in the future it will be a bonus but it will not be my drive. If I read what most of you have to say and if I look at my family today then me giving up sculpting for some time was a small price to pay.

[The Forge]

I graduated college with the idea of teaching sculpture and creating my art on the side. That was a big disappointment. Luckily, my father had introduced me to a trade, Plastic Injection Moldmaking, when I was 16. Luckily, I continued my apprenticeship part time with him as I was attending college and finished it in two years after college. It is that trade that supported my family for the next 50 yrs. I retired two years ago and started creating my Welded Steel Sculptures again. Since I do not have to depend on it for my living, any money that I make is used to add new equipment to my studio.

[marblecutter]

A former Wall Street commodities broker, Mr. Jeff Koons employs nearly 130 people in his New York studio. He asks them to sign non-disclosure agreements to protect intellectual property and trade secrets around the art and has his employees handle the labor while he focuses on bigger concepts, former staffers say.

"People have a concept of how an artist works—they imagine Jackson Pollock pouring paint over a canvas, they definitely don't imagine a man in an office in a suit thinking up ideas," said New York artist and former Koons studio assistant Jaclyn Santos. "To him, it's not about making a work physically, it's about making the idea."

[Nelson]

Wow, long time I don`t post here. At the time I used to check in everyday. Most of my work time was dedicated to making functional iron work, and since there was little work, a lot of my spare time I employed it making sculptures. As a matter of fact, many sculptures shown in the net inspired me to copy them at first, then creating my own. The former lost sense soon but sure helped me evolved. Where on this planet you're located, who you know,the quality of your work and how many people know you, are in my view of paramount importance, as to the quantity and quality of art work a given community can take. In my case, as in most places, everyone here loves sculptures, but very few are willing to pay well for good artwork. So what you're left is an ample market niche that will buy lots of cheap art, that most probably would have to step down to a craft level. Very few sculptures I sold, as I figured I'd rather keep them before selling them dirt cheap. Things evolved and my creative drive and need to make money somehow, led me to a side of art I love and make good money on too. Namely, taking almost any decorative or arquitectural element to the art level my client is willing to pay. This meant working 15 years at least to make a name, a reputation, so that wealthy people will want YOU to do the job. Marketing myself has taken much time and effort, but is paying. Most of my clients now come from a high social status, and many of them know one another, so what happens is that I get referred by one to whom a did a NICE work and so on. At the time, I cannot handle all the work asked for. So here's what happens. prices are driven higher little by little . If I have two fellows wanting my work, I'll push my price up on one, if it doesn't work, I'll have the other client to fall back on. Usually, I dont overdo it, and the second fellow simply waits for his turn... It's a fact, we artists of this sort are among the group of people worst pay, worldwide. Here's where one has to be creative to find a confortable spot that suits both the creative instint and the material needs, $$$. Pure sculpture, is to me the maximum job I could be doing, and as I get sparetime (very seldom) no doubt I'll engage myself in the most rewarding experience an artist can have. The key thing in this DAMN globalized world economy, is marketing. An every individual must find his own strategies to make it in the "rat race" as E says. Sure, if you creative enough, you may end up being the cat in a rat race ...hopefuly there won't be too many cats or else ... I do not mean to be boastful, just assertive, but must say at times as I did, one must go through harsh hardship to somehow push through limitations and savor success. The art of living, for some leaving art, for others making a living on it. Whatever you do, be CREATIVE !

[Biomorph]

One thing you said aside from your main point particularly interests me. That is, that you had looked at sculpture on the net for ideas and inspiration. I would love to know how many of the community members would be willing to indicate whether they regularly look at the net sculpture pics for any reason [or whether they would regard it as an admission against interest or pride.]
There are a large number of sites that give a good look into what's out there, including ISC, but also commerical sites such as Saachi, Artspan, Artnet as well as the material from Google images.
I think that surveying the scene is important because part of art itself seems now to be the very fact of the proliferation of increasingly diverse shapes, forms, and concepts. I sometimes wonder whether the myriad of images are following or leading the art. I'll note that over history the best artists never have hesitated to look, listen, and compare with other artists of their time.

[mantrid]

If you have an interest in art then you will always be looking at others work and it will influence you if only on a subtle level

[cheesepaws]

Its our job to look around at what everyone is making!

Money? Naw.....money is overrated. I teach and have some small sales but I don't expect to feed myself exclusively from a studio. Those guys going public gigs do alright though. But not for me.

[Nelson]

Originally Posted by Biomorph

One thing you said aside from your main point particularly interests me. That is, that you had looked at sculpture on the net for ideas and inspiration. I would love to know how many of the community members would be willing to indicate whether they regularly look at the net sculpture pics for any reason [or whether they would regard it as an admission against interest or pride.]
There are a large number of sites that give a good look into what's out there, including ISC, but also commerical sites such as Saachi, Artspan, Artnet as well as the material from Google images.
I think that surveying the scene is important because part of art itself seems now to be the very fact of the proliferation of increasingly diverse shapes, forms, and concepts. I sometimes wonder whether the myriad of images are following or leading the art. I'll note that over history the best artists never have hesitated to look, listen, and compare with other artists of their time.

Hi Bio,
I suppose there are many artists who check out other´s work, without feeling diminished in any sense. Admiring the greatness of other artists is a nourishing practice in my view. As unique a work of any artist may appear, it is just a discovery of what´s already there. How he interprets reality or ilusions, which are at the end the same, may vary, but I find it difficult to use the term " he or she creates...". Seems more appropiate to say "he or she discovers..." so part of the creative process is peeping into nature, our mind, and what´s already out there, I think...

[ssculptor]

Oh my gosh! Am I supposed to be making money? I thought making my sculpture was enough for me to do. When I started making my art back in the early 1960's I had hoped I could make some money and garner some fame from it. But I was young and naive and hopeful. Young people tend to be that way. They have not learned that one makes art because one has to make art.
It is an inner compulsion and one has not much to say about it. At least I don't.
When I realized that I was a career artist the next thought was how do I make money to survive and immediately after that was the solution, I'll teach art. All this happened in about one second. A rather pivotal second of time I'd say.
So I continue to make my art and show it in group shows. At least I get a free meal at the openings of several types of cheese, vegetables and lots of wine. I have had two one man shows in New York City. But if one does not have the backing and promotion of a good gallery with the right art writers writing all sorts of correct nonsense about my work it is just a bit of self indulgence. At least I am still alive and making sculpture. I told my children that when I die they can hold onto the art for a while and if they find the right contacts they can sell it then.
I even had my art represented by a hot shot New York City agent. Even he gave up after a few years. He complained that I was his only failure. Such is life.
So why do I make my art year after year? It is an inner compulsion. To me the best reason for making art was stated by the writer Sherwood Anderson in 1926. "The object of art is not to make salable pictures. It is to save yourself."
We have only one life, the trick is to enjoy it as much as possible.
Stephen Auslender

[marblecutter]

From Publishers Weekly Review of Book: Seven Days in the Art World:
" The hot, hip contemporary art world, argues sociologist Thornton, is a cluster of intermingling subcultures unified by the belief, whether genuine or feigned, that nothing is more important than the art itself. It is a conviction, she asserts, that has transformed contemporary art into a kind of alternative religion for atheists. Thornton, a contributor to Artforum.com and the New Yorker, presents an astute and often entertaining ethnography of this status-driven world. Each of the seven chapters is a keenly observed profile of that world's highest echelons: a Christie's auction, a Crit session at the California Institute of the Arts and the Art Basel art fair. The chapter on auctions where one auction-goer explains, "t's dangerous to wear Prada.... You might get caught in the same outfit as three members of Christie's staff" is one of the book's strongest; the author's conversations about the role of the art critic with Artforum editor-in-chief Tim Griffin and the New Yorker's Peter Schjeldahl are edifying. Thornton offers an elegant, evocative, sardonic view into some of the art world's most prestigious institutions. "

From Booklist
"Art and business, personal quests and personality cults, big bucks and the triumph of concept over beauty, being cool and in the know—these are the cardinal points in the contemporary art world. Enter Sarah Thornton, an art historian and sociologist with moxie and a brilliant game plan. Willing to ask obvious questions, she infiltrates the seven circles of this competitive realm. An astute observer and stimulating storyteller whose crisp sentences convey a wealth of information, Thornton marvels at the military precision of a Christie’s auction and the wild improvisation of an art-school critique. On to Art Basel, a major international art fair where the “hard buy” rather than the hard sell is the rule since an artist’s reputation is tied to those who own his or her work. Thornton witnesses the final stage in the judging and presentation of the Turner Prize, watches editors at work at Artforum, attends the coveted Venice Biennale, and spends a dizzying day with the wizardly artist-entrepreneur Takashi Murakami. Thornton’s uniquely clarifying dispatches from the art front glimmer with high-definition profiles of artists, dealers, critics, and collectors, and grapple with the paradoxes inherent in the transformation of creativity into commodity." --Donna Seaman

[negative]

PT Barnum

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