I love Henry Murger’s 1849 introduction to Scenes de la Vie de Boheme where he outlines the three main kinds of Bohemians:
- Unknown Dreamers – amateur artists who do not seek publicity but expect it to come for them. They are poor and often die from poverty. Murger calls this way of life a “blind alley,” and says that their avoidance of fame works against them.
- Amateur – has a steady income but chooses to live in “Bohemia” for the fun of it. Once they have had their fill, they will return to the bourgeoisie.
- Stalwart Official Bohemians – must be known as an artist to the wider world; though they are not making a lot of money, they are guided by ambition and are expected to soon be “making it” in the world of art. They know both how to be frugal and how to be extravagant and can fit in in squalor or luxury.
I’m tired of being an “emerging artist”, its sounds so tentative and weak. And as a human, we love labels and knowing that you’re an “amateur” just makes it all the more painful. Someone who has a real job, dabbles on the side, joins local art organizations and drinks cheap wine at group shows a couple times a year. It’s such a cliché. I will always be looking over my shoulder wondering what if I went at it hard when I was 20? I’ve always admired young people with passion, you see them once in a while. Those regional art groups and clubs that I attend – looking at the heads, it’s a sea of gray. Self-actualizing old people, they have the time and money, and it’s mostly women because they outlive the men.
Actually, I’m not even sure that I qualify as an emerging artist. An emerging artist is someone who’s in the early stage of their career, someone who’s caught the eye of an art critic and/or gallery, but hasn’t yet established a solid reputation as an artist amongst art critics, art buyers, and art galleries. Sounds like a catch-22 to me. Then there is further categorization as an Emerging, Mid-Career and Established Artist. https://bmoreart.com/2009/07/differences-between-emerging-mid-career.html
How about Senior Emerging, Almost Mid, Associate Established. We are counseled, when in doubt, stick with Emerging Artist. “Many artists remain in this category for their entire careers and have a successful, busy, and healthy studio practice and lifestyle.” There is nothing to be ashamed of. Yea baby. Go Girl. Ya Mon.
Chasing a steady paycheck and painting nights and weekends as an “emerging amateur” is a fair compromise. After years of study, the conclusion I reached is that the endorphins generated due to the constant war between my very techy left brain and my artist right brain provided a high that became an addiction that I had to continuously feed or suffer withdrawal, even death by boredom. I thought I would paint 8 hours a day when the war finally ended, now I’m too tired. It would be better if all an artist had to do is the work, secure patrons or starve, but that my friends ended a long time ago.
The “You can’t have your cake and eat it too” proverb literally means “you cannot simultaneously retain your cake and eat it”. Once the cake is eaten, it is gone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_can%27t_have_your_cake_and_eat_it
In other words, the saying goes, one cannot or should not have or want more than one deserves or is reasonable, or that one cannot or should not try to have two incompatible things. I’ve been eating cake most of my life, the bites are small, there seems to be a lot left.