I imagine there will be a host of others chiming in here as well. As a visual artist - a painter - there is an entire world opened up. I teach via skype in individual sessions as well. It’s a grand thing really - to be able to reach people, connect with others artists, view the gamut of art history… And more.
At one time, if you were, say, a painter you needed to go to where the painters were - Paris or Vienna maybe, if you were in Europe. Everyone else was an ‘unknown’. it’s far easier these day to become known.
Granted, one downside is that I see a lot of younger artists who spend less time on their work in a frenzy to post and share and whatnot… Using it efficiently and effectively is the key. At age 39, i wonder what it would have been like had i the access to the vast interwebs at, say, age 22 when I really had a lot of time and space to just paint and fewer distractions (I’m not getting nostalgic for a ‘simpler age’, I really did have fewer distractions.)
Anyways, thumbs up to the independence the internet has been able to foster.
My first question is: if where they’re located is now irrelevant because internet, why are these all from the same city? Short answer: because where your physical body is located is still incredibly important. These artists may communicate and deliver over the net, but they wouldn’t have these careers if they’d never left Ottumwa or Park City.
So they’re not succeeding because internet, they’re succeeding because Los Angeles.
There’s not a lot of evidence in the piece to support your argument. Perhaps it’s more likely that the NYT sent a writer and photographer to a particular place and they contacted artists in that area.
I make my living through the internet doing nonfiction/journalistic comics for media sites and I live in the SF Bay Area. Being physically near where a lot of those sites are either based, or have editors working from, has been a huge help. I do know folks who do what I do in smaller cities - just not as many as those that live in NYC/LA/Chicago/SF. Location still does matter to an extent.
But yeah, the point about all these careers (including mine) not existing 15 years ago is absolutely right on.
Well there’ll be varying levels of both aspects - but I’d disagree on the details.
Artists tend to flock to artist communities, that tend to be in multicultural, busy, interesting places - namely capital cities (is it fair to describe LA as the capital of the west coast?). And you can argue that being a part of a bigger community is going to have many positive impacts on your artistic career. But it’s not LA, per se.
Maybe that’s what your’re saying though, and I’m interpreting you too literally.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
