Handling Art in the 21st Century:  

While economics may be of little concern to other artists and art professionals, in a consumer culture the visual arts are inherently connected to the greater economy. Furthermore, in a specialized exchange economy, where we each perform a highly specialized task and exchange money for the goods and services that we need, we are significantly more dependent on the combined contributions of other people than we are on our own skills, accomplishments or resources, which is clearly reflected by the diverse number of people whom we rely on to fulfill our daily needs, inside and outside of the art world. This includes, but is not limited to, delivery persons, art handlers, food preparers, administrators, police officers, etc. All demographics and socio-economic classes of people are likewise vital to economic health; and diversity and equal opportunity are critical factors in determining an economy’s innovative potential, productivity and resilience in times of change.

Similar to the mainstream economy, the art world is highly dependent on a large number of unnamed workers, who fulfill the numerous behind-the-scenes tasks that are required to produce, exhibit, and sell artwork. Although digital and manufacturing technologies have changed the way that art is made, viewed and sold, the economic mechanisms that drive the art world remain sufficiently rooted in human labor, creative ingenuity and interpersonal relationships. Thus, without the labor of workers like art handlers and art administrators, who perform many of the critical tasks that enable galleries and other art professionals to generate income, the art industry would undoubtedly suffer (or cease to function entirely) – just as the greater economy would suffer (or more likely collapse) without the labor of the lower and middle classes. Likewise, creativity in the arts would stagnate without emerging artists to challenge the status quo; and any industry that needlessly under-compensates its lower level professionals, or fails to offer sufficient opportunities for growth, will eventually loose these employees to other industries offering better wages and career opportunities. 

Although cultural workers tend to be associated with privilege, the greater reality is that artists and art professionals make up one of the most disadvantaged segments of the national economy. The art industry has likewise evolved into a microcosmic mirror of the highly unequal economic macrocosm– albeit with greater income disparity, less market regulation, and a lot more Prosecco. While art galleries, museums, art schools, and related institutions have accomplished a great deal in the name of contemporary art, creative expression and cultural development, the extremely polarized art market and the limited number of art institutions simultaneously alienate a large majority of the trained and experienced art professionals, who are unable to build a career in the arts or to sustain a living wage through art-related work at all. These individuals often juggle multiple underpaid jobs, or work 14-hour days just so they can pay their living expenses, while maintaining an art-related practice at their own expense. Analogous to other industries, the rising cost of business overhead, mostly due to rent inflation, has also forced the majority of small and mid-sized art organizations to downsize, merge, or close altogether – while mega-galleries and blue chip artists continue to expand and produce more extravagant artworks and exhibitions. In spite of their growing economic disadvantage, small galleries and independent art professionals are also expected to perform on a similar level to larger businesses with significantly more resources, which is generally to the detriment of independent professionals and smaller galleries.

Similar to the commercial market, grants, awards, subsidies and fellowships are generally awarded to already successful artists; and in the context of rising costs for basic living expenses, including rent, healthcare, education, and debt-based financing to pay for the former, award money is often insufficient in covering the full production budget and time that artists require to make their work, which inevitably includes the artist's cost of living as an independent professional. Creative labor, such as artists’ assistant work, is typically compensated at the same rate as other types of blue-collar or manual labor, despite requiring a high-level of training and technical skill; and art handling or installation work, which can be as hazardous as working in hardhat construction, is often paid on a freelance basis and without employment benefits like workers’ compensation or overtime pay. In addition to long hours, strenuous conditions, and insufficient benefits, artists are also exposed to a greater amount of chemical toxicity, through the use of certain art supplies and from working in poorly ventilated industrial workspaces. I have personally developed such a strong sensitivity to resin that I can hardly breathe when it is being used in the same room as me, or in the same shared airspace.

This is particularly unfortunate in respect to the high cost of a fine arts degree, which is limiting for employment opportunities outside of the arts, yet practically a pre-requisite for showing with an established gallery, or acquiring paid employment within a credible art institution. Rent inflation and inflated tax rates for freelancers and small businesses additionally inflate the overhead of small businesses in the arts and the cost of maintaining an art studio, which artists often require to produce their artwork. For example, I was only able to afford a dedicated studio space for two out of the ten years that I have spent working in the arts in New York City, and both years were significantly compromised by outside events, personal hardship and medical issues. Fine artwork that is sold outside of the gallery system also tends to be priced in tandem with mass-produced objects, however this is generally at the artist’s expense, due to the extensive time, money, and labor that is involved in making fine artwork. Likewise, employers and consumers often feel justified paying artists machine-worker wages for their creative and technical skills, however this similarly overlooks the value of original artwork and creative thought, which are critical to aesthetic innovation and without which mass-manufacturers and designers would have little culturally relevant content to copy or emulate. Relevance and timeliness are also an essential aspect of art and design, and merely recirculating existing designs or artworks would be a stale practice at best. Beyond fine art, artists and other art professionals are some of most industrious workers, skilled critical thinkers, and compassionate human beings whom I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, either personally or via art history, and the way that contemporary society tends to write us off as lazy or inept is wildly inaccurate.

Ultimately, the economic exploitation of art professionals hurts the greater economy, because art, culture and aesthetics are essential to commerce and to the wellbeing of society at large. Likewise, the art industry would cease to function without its lower and mid-tier professionals, who are not easily replaced with temporary or untrained day laborers. The artists’ economic position of eternal “giving” and little “receiving” is additionally a liability to the health of cultural production and to the health of artists themselves. This is especially problematic for artists and art professionals with families and young children to support, as they are often tasked with the super human responsibility of working a full time job, maintaining a studio or curatorial practice and raising a family. Several of the recently deceased individuals, whom I had mentioned above were young parents, and I personally suspect that their untimely passing was at least partly due to the exhausting conditions, which they likely faced as young parents working in the arts.

While I recognize that most Americans do not feel personally responsible for other professionals in or outside of their respective industries, the greater economy is ultimately dependent upon a vast ecosystem of mutually interdependent industries, which are each comprised of their own internal ecosystems of interdependent individuals and organizations. In spite of technological progress, our lives are sufficiently more dependent on other people than on digital or machine technologies; and in a shared democracy, it is thus in our mutual best interest – and also our collective responsibility - to ensure that all Americans have affordable access to the economic resources they need to be healthy and well, including adequate living and working conditions. Regardless of global economics, a nation of healthy workers ensures a healthy national economy; and equal access to education and merit-based opportunity increases our overall economic potential. Furthermore, while many of the economic and political reforms necessary to ensure the health of American workers exist outside of the arts – (most important of which are policy and tax changes to redistribute wealth and reduce government corruption) - there are a number of internal measures that the art world can institute from within to safeguard its own economic wellbeing and additionally plan for future growth and prosperity.