It’s not your fault!

I just want to share something that came from a private conversation I’ve been having with another creative over the past couple of days. It’s a thought that’s been lingering in my mind and maybe it’s helpful for some of you to hear right now.

As an artist and an agent I have the honour of speaking with creative people every day both as a peer and in the capacity of my day job. It’s fair to say that right now that everyone I speak with is struggling to some degree - and it’s not been easy for me because I have plenty of my own anxieties. There is more uncertainty out there than any other time I can remember and I’m seeing people scramble to work out how to weather this moment. Creatives are asking me for help or advice and I’m not certain I can really impart anything that helpful, other than share my observations and opinions. People are working out how to make their operations more lean, how to optimise, how to game the platforms to retain attention and relevance. A lot of people are making trade off’s they’d rather not, whether it’s doing projects that don’t align fully with their vision or considering forfeiting ownership of their IP (work for hire contracts) etc  … These are conversations I’m having daily.

It occurred to me at some point, and I don’t know if this is helpful for anyone to hear but I really don’t think the fault lays solely with any creatives, studios, agencies nor the majority of our clients or collectors. I really believe that we have hit the wall of dissonance that has been required to carry on concerning ourselves with career or industry growth while so much is going on in the world right now.

I say this as there are multiple horrific wars happening, some 70% of the world is now under a degree of authoritarian rule, there’s overt consolidation of power, wealth and influence occurring, ever increasing digital surveillance, silencing of dissent through legal threats and state violence. I’m saying this as over 1 million acres of land burns in Central Oregon and ICE/DHS detained 12,000 people in the US over the last 5 days - many with immigration status somewhat similar to my own and a number of them in Domestic airports. This is just a small summary of things going on. Needless to say, the cost of living is going up and over all we are less free. I think I feel the least free I’ve ever felt in my adult life. The freedom to travel, the freedom to speak candidly and the freedom to be creative all feel threatened. 

So yeah, I just wanted to say to all the creatives out there, there’s a good chance this is not your fault and totally beyond your personal control. This is not some personal failing you can optimise your way out of, this is the world we are living in, we are at a major apex of all the issues that have been afflicting our societies and environment and I believe we’ve arrived at the breaking point. What we do to course correct and what we do on the other side of all of this is beyond me as an individual to comment on. I just know it’s going to require that we be real about the moment, be honest, endure the discomfort and know that it’ll likely get worse before it gets better. 

I don’t know about all of you but making art is something I did before I became a “professional”, and it’s been an incredible coping mechanism for a lot of things in my life. It helped me survive some really hostile experiences through my teens and twenties, it helped me find lifelong friends and build community, it enabled me to travel and experience things beyond what I’d ever imagined I would. It’s opened every door in my life and allowed me the space for self reflection, to be challenged in my thinking and in my own biases. I think if anything, I need that more than ever right now and I hope that this serves as a message of encouragement for anyone else that is struggling at the moment.

A drawing I spent 98 hours and 7 minutes working on over a year and 2 days.