Perhaps hotel art is not the right analogy that OP should have used? Here is a better analogy: Think of hiring an artist to paint the walls of a building, whe

Perhaps hotel art is not the right analogy that OP should have used? Here is a better analogy: Think of hiring an artist to paint the walls of a building, where painting them is defined by a rigid instruction set by a PM, we have two week sprint cycles where your progress on each wall is measured. You are actively encouraged with generous redbulls to crush painting the wall and work long hours painting the wall. You furthermore see that industry is obsessed with dozens of articles on whether people should paint their walls horizontally or vertically. There are people talking about making their first millions painting a building which has odd geometrical shapes. Yet, the reason you got into painting/art was because you loved to design and create. You loved the fact that art school gave you the opportunity to do that. You are sometimes hopeful when you go interviews and you are asked questions on design, ask to create something amazing. Hoping that maybe this time things will be different and you won't be asked to paint fucking walls.