As we approach the end of what many of us would say has been a year full of hardship, change and uncertainty - not least of all me, here's an excerpt from the current issue of tangent. I'm determined to end this horrible year on a note of rebellious hope, and celebrate the invincible spirit of artists everywhere:
Waiting for the Credit Crunch to End?As anyone who’s recently been petrified to look at their skyrocketing overdraft can attest, the credit crunch is affecting us all, and with no end in sight. Thanks to the mismanagement of government, the banks, over the top hedge fund Fat Cats, and whoever else you might want to blame, we’re all in for a long, hard slog. Poverty Stew, Beans on Toast, the wearing of multiple jumpers, and finding yet more ways to cut spending and economise is the order of the day for the foreseeable future, for pretty much everyone.
It’s now become somewhat of a competition for people from all walks of life (even the Birkin crowd, I understand) to prove who can economise not only the most, but the most creatively. So whilst everyone else is suddenly discovering ways to stretch a quid, make their own soap, invent a thousand and one recipes for leftovers, keep warm without central heating and keep the credit wolves at bay, the good news is, as artists, most of us are experts at doing this already. Ask anyone who rents an unheated studio that leaks, has a crappy part time job that barely pays the rent and still somehow manages to produce and show work.
For starters, artists are known for ferreting out and colonising the cheapest places to live/work, eat, drink and get merry. It’s in the job description, after all. Unfortunately, those places inevitably morph, over time, into trendy hotspots that most artists can no longer afford, but the point is, we, as a profession, are there first. Artists are industrious. It’s in our nature. We know how to do this credit crunch thing, and for us, it comes quite naturally. We can make something amazing out of virtually nothing, and often do. Being natural pack rats, we are specialists in accumulating the weirdest stuff (after all, we might need it for a piece of work one day) and we certainly know how to recycle, reuse and recreate.
Artists lazy? Pie in the Sky? Gazing into space wondering what to make next? Pah! Artists are hard workers. They can, and do, regularly transform the most derelict of spaces into something quite amazing and at times, magical, through a bit of elbow grease, a lot of lateral thinking, and with very little money. They can find the most unusual objects in the most unlikely of places, and then transform them into something beautiful, thought provoking or visually engaging. And artists have an innate ability to make supplies and materials stretch until the cows come home, as well as suss out the best and most cost-effective places to get our materials. We also seem to know the cheapest way to get from Point A to Point B, and are probably fitter than most because of it, as we walk a lot (or cycle).
Artists, as a profession, are certainly not wimps when it comes to this credit crunch thing. No, my compatriots, we are qualified specialists. So, as the nights draw in and the temperature drops, and in the face of what many proclaim to be the biggest economic collapse in living history,
take heart in the fact that, we, the artists, are indomitable!
