In today’s world of practicality, the question arises: why become an artist? Is this even a good idea?

Becoming an artist, and having to make money from it?

In today’s capitalistic world, it seems that money is ultimate arbiter of value. That is, your work as an artist is not valued unless you make a lot of money from it. And it seems that the more money you make from it, the more value that is. And the more legitimate it is.

Why do we strive to please others?

There is also another strange bias that we as artists seek to please others. That is, the more likes, followers, and money you get from your art and your passion, the more legitimate it is.

Modern day society is about socializing yourself to seek value through the eyes of others

One of my sociological breakthroughs is this: modern day in society with it’s built in weighing system is all about weighing yourself worth in comparison with others. this has to do with our notion of capital, and that all capital could be quantified, and compared. Thus all human beings are thought to be quantifiable into numbers, and thus compared with others.

Does the child care to compare his or her artwork with artwork of other children?

No. My fascination with raising Seneca is trying to figure out how much is natural and biologically in humans, and how much is sociological. It seems that 99% of it is sociological.

Professions are overrated

If we study history and contemplate the ancient Greeks and Romans, one’s identity was not one’s profession. in fact, it was seen as base to have to labor for a living because back then they had slaves for that.

But now we are the new modern-day slaves for ourselves. We work ourselves to death, and even in Japan there’s a notion of death by overwork. In America, there’s a strange cult of work, which I believe stems from the Christian notion of having to suffer in order to be of value. Even much of Judaism is built on the pillars of guilt.

What does it mean to become an artist?

Becoming an artist has nothing to do with your profession or how you make money. Rather, being an artist is how you see and interact and engage with the world. How you interface with reality. An artist sees the world as infinitely interesting, and is infinitely curious.

Essentially, to become an artist is to become more childlike.

So can I become an artist right now?

Yes. Right now is the best time to become an artist. We have all the tools of artistic creation in our hands. We have the iPhone, we have the iPad, we have the MacBook laptop, we have the digital Ricoh GR 3 camera, we have Panasonic Lumix cameras for video, we have GoPro cameras, and we have the Internet.

We have personal blogs, we have YouTube, we have podcast hosting platforms. There is no way that your voice, artistic vision, and insight cannot be communicated with others.

Why become an artist?

The main reason to become an artist is for your soul to flourish. At the end of the day, food water and shelter is quite easy cheap and accessible. And I think we feel the most powerful and empowered when we are making art, or even dreaming of our art.

The future hope of art as giving us the great will to live

Even when you think about our consumer goods, at this point we see it as artworks. For example, we don’t buy the car for the car itself, but we buy it for the design and art that went into it. Even with sneakers, sneakers are essentially wearable art. We fondle over the iPhone as design objects, and can make great photos, which is the main form of art creation for most people.

Yes, photography is art. Digital photography is art, iPhone photography is art, etc. essentially anything that you create with soul and heart is art.

Or simply put, no art no life.