Lovers of high art : how do you come back down to cold, harsh reality?

Question

Artists themselvs generally had patrons and so didn't have to worry about money. But people like me who are intense lovers of art but not artists themselves have a problem.

The modern world favors the fast-paced, the cold, hard, and practical . Heartless administrative red tape and material ambitions.

I escape to the realm of art (primarily jazz and classical music, but also poems and short stories of the Romantic and Victorian era) and feel wonderfully alive, but when the music fades, it's back to the aforementioned unlivable reality.

Answer 1

So, you teach what you love and continue to do what you love. I am an artist and I teach my craft.

Answer 2

Hard ... I assure you. To spend the afternoon walking the corridors of the Metropolitan Museum and know that I could walk out the door, get on a subway and within the hour be standing at Ground Zero. I think about that every time I am there. I often tell people I could easily set up a sleeping bag and sleep in the 19th Century European paintings galleries. I find solace in literature and architecture and in the good times I share with my son and I remember that after 9/11. that sense of urgency and fast pace we were used to got a little more urgent and a little faster paced. Life goes on. Right? Pax - C

Answer 3

i don't think everyone in the modern world favors what you describe. folk art is very popular, and there are some wonderful figurative painters and all sorts of artist who aren't "cold hard and practical."
it takes a while for me to find recent art that i like... but the circumstances of war and floods and such have given some recent art a wonderful human and romantic side. get some magazines, do some searching. besides, what is your reality, is reality.

Answer 4

I paint; I have stacks of paintings all over my apartment, piles of paintings under my bed. Every time I've tried to show them to potential patrons/gallery owners, etc, the red tape piles up. They are not interested in the works, they are only interested in how the work is presented; do I have a website, do I have slides, do I have a portfolio? I can't afford those things until I manage to sell some paintings, but no one will even look until I have those things.

Answer 5

Your reality is very different from mine.

I call this "saturation" when a person is over-exposed to anything and begins to believe that the entire world is this way.

I found it interesting to hear from some teens recently who believe that everyone smokes weed. We believe what we are exposed to in the world.

Answer 6

By constantly keeping the image of the ideal within your mind. At some point you will create your own art which will give you immense satisfaction. We all have our talents and natural inclinations and you will find yours. Picture your ideal self and strive to move toward it at all times and you will find life a little less harsh.

Answer 7

Reality comes to us all, even if, as in the most extreme cases, those long last moments...