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Artists have much more flexibility today. They can create an original, have prints made to sell in the hundreds or thousands for $10, then sell the original to

Artists have much more flexibility today. They can create an original, have prints made to sell in the hundreds or thousands for $10, then sell the original to the one person willing to pay a few hundred bucks for it. There's tons of original art available. I live in a small midwestern city and have no problem finding studios that "traditional" art. There are a few larger retail galleries where artists will rent out stalls to sell their work, some will set up shop next to an antique store and sell their work along with a card telling you to come next door to their gallery, and many just have their own retail store fronts. Usually in smaller, town squares. University exhibitions are a great way to pick up original pieces for dirt cheap. Lots of university students are happy to get something for their work/assignments, and most students are already very talented by the time they get to uni.

watwut 5y ago
> University exhibitions are a great way to pick up original pieces for dirt cheap. Lots of university students are happy to get something for their work/assignments, and most students are already very talented by the time they get to uni. Yeah, but none of them is living off those paintings. It is some little extra money at best. You said it is dirt cheap, that means they earn much less then minimum wage on those paintings. I know you can buy cheap digital copies of good looking art. That does not make it easier to life off it then "hundred years ago". It makes it harder. My point is not that it is hard to find good artists today. It is that past had many periods, including hundred years ago, in which market for painting specifically was better then market for paintings now. And it meant more people pursuing painting as a job.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  You're ignoring the whole other segment of my post pointing out that there are dozens of art galleries in my tiny city where artists make money selling their traditional art work. And not just eking out a living money: they make enough money to have retail store fronts! If it's this prevalent in a no-name city, places like NYC, Chicago, SF, etc must have hundreds or thousands of art galleries. I have an entire house full of original paintings. Most of them were purchased in a retail gallery. It's not hard to find people who paint/draw for a living. The fact that original work can be subsidized through the sale of digital replicas make the field so much more economical than it was in the past. It's no longer the case that you need to be a wealthy family to have a painting commissioned. I've had several done.

watwut 5y ago

> University exhibitions are a great way to pick up original pieces for dirt cheap. Lots of university students are happy to get something for their work/assignments, and most students are already very talented by the time they get to uni. Yeah, but none of them is living off those paintings. It is some little extra money at best. You said it is dirt cheap, that means they earn much less then minimum wage on those paintings. I know you can buy cheap digital copies of good looking art. That does not make it easier to life off it then "hundred years ago". It makes it harder. My point is not that it is hard to find good artists today. It is that past had many periods, including hundred years ago, in which market for painting specifically was better then market for paintings now. And it meant more people pursuing painting as a job.

mywittyname 5y ago
You're ignoring the whole other segment of my post pointing out that there are dozens of art galleries in my tiny city where artists make money selling their traditional art work. And not just eking out a living money: they make enough money to have retail store fronts! If it's this prevalent in a no-name city, places like NYC, Chicago, SF, etc must have hundreds or thousands of art galleries. I have an entire house full of original paintings. Most of them were purchased in a retail gallery. It's not hard to find people who paint/draw for a living. The fact that original work can be subsidized through the sale of digital replicas make the field so much more economical than it was in the past. It's no longer the case that you need to be a wealthy family to have a painting commissioned. I've had several done.