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As one of the (perhaps many) artists here with day jobs in software, I read this with interest. I was a bit disappointed but, given it's the NYT, unsurprised t
by biztos 9y ago
As one of the (perhaps many) artists here with day jobs in software, I read this with interest. I was a bit disappointed but, given it's the NYT, unsurprised there wasn't more about the primary reason most artists have day jobs in the first place: the art, more often than not, doesn't pay; and some of us need to make rent just the same.
I would not say being a software guy has, by itself, had much influence on my art practice so far, though I may yet end up mixing the two disciplines. But I will say that having a reliable, full-time day-job over the years has hugely influenced my artistic productivity and not for the better. Other artists-with-day-jobs I know would almost certainly echo this.
However, for better or worse I chose this path because I didn't want the kind of financial insecurity I saw as a likely risk of trying the "professional artist" path. In retrospect I think I was only half right about that.
On the one hand, a good number of the successful artists I know have other money and also connections such that their worst-case scenario would have been falling back to a fancier version of my life. On the other hand, now that I'm 20-odd years into it I see that a lot comes to you from just staying in the game, and there are ways of balancing the "work" against the "art" that are more favorable to the latter. Figuring this out going forward is one of my big challenges at the moment -- it gets more complicated as your career progresses and you can't just punch a virtual clock anymore.
Purely anecdotal evidence: off the top of my head I can think of seven friends (plus me) who have real day jobs and are also visual artists. One basically gave up painting; two of us are stalled and trying to get started again; one has a job in the art world so is "inside" even during his downtime; and everyone struggles to find time for their art.
Among those I know without day jobs, I'd say about half are more or less broke and half are more or less successful (galleries, museums, etc.). But even among the successful ones there are several who would be broke if not for their partners. I guess I (obviously) still don't like those odds.
- matthewwiese 9y agoYour Hacker News bio doesn't link to any of your art! That very well could be intentional, but if you don't mind I'd be interested in seeing the paintings of a fellow HN regular. :) Also, I'm sure you're aware that Paul Graham wrote a book titled Hackers & Painters? The short blurb in your bio reads as if the coincidence was intentional, at least.
- biztos 9y agoYes, the coincidence was intentional, thanks for noticing! I haven't read the book but I loved the famous review[0] of it. Getting my online portfolio in shape is one of those projects I keep weighing against actually making some new art. A few old pics can be found here, but I have many many more to photograph and put online: http://web.archive.org/web/20140210041241/http://www.kevinfrost.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/20140210041241/http://www.kevinfr... Also: I don't mean to imply that my writing software has no influence on my artwork -- I've even made a few works of digital art[1], and for a while I was planning to go to grad school in that direction. But I've been programming since I was a kid, and I see "writes code" as a separate thing from "works as a software engineer." I could have made that clearer. Thanks for your interest! [0]: http://idlewords.com/2005/04/dabblers_and_blowhards.htm http://idlewords.com/2005/04/dabblers_and_blowhards.htm [1]: http://lv8.biztos.com http://lv8.biztos.com
- matthewwiese 9y agoI really like the first painting you linked to. Your work is definitely the kind that I gravitate towards and I'd like to keep up with it when you get around to putting your updated portfolio online. On your second point: have you dabbled in computational art? Anything from animation to machine learning to a homemade CNC painting bot? This intersection of the two disciplines, at least in my personal work, has always been what I find most exciting. Apologies for the incessant questions! I just always get excited by code being using to create art and have always loved that prima facie paradoxical dichotomy.
- biztos 9y agoThanks. I paint in a few other styles as well... gotta get that portfolio together... Yes, I have done some computational art, going back to the 90's. Some Flash, some web-based, an abortive attempt or two at art-apps after the iPhone SDK came out, some low-key conceptual stuff[0]. When I think about maybe merging the art and software practices now, I think mostly in terms of physical objects affected by software interacting with humans. But not exactly robotics, I don't think that's my alley. But... time... Gotta make some old-fashioned pictures first. [0]: http://thislikethat.com http://thislikethat.com