10 reasons to be an artist

Why on earth would you want to be an artist? That’s not a real job. Yet, still all those struggling would-be artists working two and three jobs and squeezing their art in where they can must have a dream of what ‘being an artist’ means. There’s that blissful utopian dream of what it will be like when they final give up all their day-night-part-time jobs and can just ‘be’ an artist. So what’s so great about that? Imagine…

1. No peak hour
Yes, as an artist you need not be beholden to the rat race 9 to 5 monotony. You can get up when you want to, whether it’s at 4am or 2pm, and that’s okay. You can work through the night, stick to regular days or just mix it up because you feel like it. You don’t have to listen to drive-time radio, sit in traffic, or worry about that drooling guy swaying on the tram.

2. You are your own boss
Yep, send yourself emails, leave yourself messages, tell yourself what to do, hold production meetings with yourself setting out your goals and targets, or don’t. It’s up to you. You have ultimate creative control of your destiny. Frankly, it’s got to be the scariest thing about being an artist, and pretty hard work. You’ve got to manage all the bills, invoices, marketing, sales and production and be creative. But, hey, it’s your life.

3. At the end of the day
Surely, for many artists one of the greatest pleasures is having a sense of achievement at the end of the day, when you can sit back and look at what you’ve created. Even if you smash it to bits the next morning, your days involve creating something that can be shown, can exist. It may be colour on canvas, words on a page, images projected across a wall, or your own movements synchronised with others, but it’s your creation.

4. Opening night parties
Come to my show, launch, exhibition, screening…cheap wine and cheese anyone? Who else can regularly invite everyone they know around to see what they’ve been working on? I mean, who gets their friends together for a Powerpoint night, where you get to compare each others graphs and slide transitions? Nope, only artists can get away with such indulgences and their friends probably even think it’s cool. It’s a great way to stay in touch with all those collected acquaintances too and they might even financially support you!

5. Bugger off I’m being creative
As an artist you can get away with just about any form of bad manners under the guise of the muse and if you do it right, it just adds to your mystique. So, maybe you wouldn’t become an artist just so you can tell people to bugger off but… there are times when you have to. Sometimes to create art you have to be a bit selfish, some might say indulgent, and that means putting ‘it’ first. Otherwise, nothing happens.

6. Just thinking
Artists get to stand on the outside, to see society, people and even themselves just a bit differently. It might be that you didn’t choose to be like that, it’s just who you are. But artists are often society’s mirrors. They’re interested in the deepest of issues, in how the world ticks, why things are as they are, and take the time to explore ideas and concepts. What’s more, society needs them.

7. Making a difference
Art has the power to make a difference. It can change the way people see. It can change people’s minds. It can delve under their skin, into their hearts and yank them in uncomfortable places. It can enrage, enlighten, move, recast and challenge. It can be just for a moment or it can change people’s lives. That’s a pretty awesome thing to spend your time working toward.

8. Appreciating the overlooked things
If you’re the sort of person who has to stop in their tracks to trace the minutiae of a crack in a wall, who feels moved to gasping verse by a water-soaked flower or who loves to rummage for hours finding broken chairs to take apart because you need their different textures for the 15m installation you’re building, there’s a chance you’re not suited to a ‘normal’ office job. Better off sticking to being an artist.

9. Meet interesting people
The avant-garde, the quirky, the clever, the resourceful, the slightly obsessive and fashion-challenged, all those other artistic people, they’re not just interesting their incredibly inspiring. Seeking out and surrounding yourself with other like-minded creative people, getting to work with them, collaborate with them, or even being intimidated and challenged by them can be one of the greatest rewards.

10. Fame and riches
And finally, the elephant in the room: sometimes, very occasionally, being an artist can make you extraordinarily famous, hopefully in your own lifetime, but maybe not. It might even make you wealthy. Someone’s got to be extremely successful, it may as well be you, right? But no matter, it’s a bonus to be paid to do what you love to do (or even feel compelled to do) and that’s a meaningful way to spend your life.