At what point can I be considered an Artist?

It occurred to me today that I have no idea what to call myself without sounding pretentious. The situation was this: a friend at work rang me to congratulate me on the entries into a work competition, as they hadn’t realised I even painted. “So are you a real artist?” he said, “I mean have you actually sold a piece of your work?”

That left me a little stuck for words. Is that what defines you as an artist? Aren’t you an artist as soon as you draw or paint or model or craft, whatever you choose? Is it only art if the viewer thinks it is or is the creator’s view the one that holds sway? Does selling prints count?

I think it was Van Gogh who never sold a picture in his own lifetime. Does that make him any the less an artist? All of this is well timed as today’s paper had an article about how artists should be paid, not just relying on the sale of their product. The argument goes that our society would be culturally impoverished if we didn’t produce art for arts sake rather than just for profit. Artists have always lived hand to mouth if not on starvation rations, completely reliant on charity or funding from the rich. In a world where the gap between the rich and the poor is ever increasing, owning a piece of original art is a luxury few can afford and it is a rare artist who can support themselves entirely without recourse to family, charity or grant maintenance.

So what do you think: should we leave the rich trust fund or spouse supported people to be artists, or should we accept that artists bring a richness to our society that is unparalleled and offer them financial support? Leave a comment below.

As for me, I intend to keep up with the accountancy and let it fund me as an artist. I like the lack of pressure to produce works to order, or to do the hard sell. And, yes, by my friend’s definition above, I can now call myself an artist because today I sold my first piece of work: Kingfisher. By my definition I became an artist as soon as I created a work that I put on public diplay.