Money and the Value of Art

“There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.” ~ Deepak Chopra

  

I'm an artist. (And a musician, and Reiki and Bach flower healer, an activist, philosopher, and dreamer of big dreams, also many other such scantily paid things, all of which I'll call 'art' for my purposes here). So I have had plenty of occasion to consider the issue of charging money for my art. In the past, the issue of money has in many ways stopped me from sharing my work. The implication was that if I do not collect cash money for my work I ought not share it, lest it's perceived value, its glamour really, be diminished.

I find my perspective about money shifting since encountering the thinking of Eisenstein on sacred economics. So I now feel supported in my longstanding niggling doubts that question the societal pressure to shove sacred art, healing, and music into the money economy. 

I haven't ever really been much of a self promoter, so mostly I have just toiled away in blissful obscurity. Receiving some love in the form of money is delightful, undeniably. I always like it when someone appreciates my work, in any way or form!

But something inside me feels uncomfortable charging money for what I love to do, and that I would do anyway. I have always resisted the societal pressure swirling all around me to 'act professional' and get paid in money and social status. Something about that does not feel quite right. But I've never stopped doing my art, any more than I'd stop eating or sleeping. It's just what I am, sort of. 

In some cultures everybody sings and dances all day, same as breathing and getting up in the morning. This is the  age in which everyone is, or will soon be, an artist.

 The real art customer today is buying lessons and supplies, not someone else's art.  Hundreds of thousands of images are uploaded to the interweb every hour, more than you could ever look at if you lived thousands of years. The accumulated surviving art works of all the ages can also be accessed by all now.

So called art collecting today is just another Wall Street casino type game in which the rich stash wealth stolen from the commons. It has almost nothing to do with art. It feels like even the artist is the next target commodity. Not their work. Their personality, their look, their lifestyle. Sell yourself, we are told!

This does not imply that I don't value my own art work highly and expect at least some people to agree! I seek balance in the the sort of work I do over a given period of time. I like grounded physically demanding work, creative collaborative communion work, and deep cerebral solo work, each has a place in my life. And I have found that for some people, paying me more money makes them value my work more. This puzzles me.

I am still quite foggy on just how it will all work out, and I'm used to that. After all these years of ignoring the pressure and continuing to do my art anyway; and it still somehow working out, I feel as if I now ride a rising tide.

"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt, and live like it's heaven on Earth." — Mark Twain

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