The Business of Art

Art is one of the few businesses in our modern service-oriented economy where an individual actually physically makes something. Often, this same individual is seller, designer, purchaser of supplies, bookkeeper, and floor sweeper. In my small neon art and design business, I create promotional material, meet with clients, draft proposals and presentations, and engineer the project—all before I actually blow and bend the glass and take on the problems of assembling and installing my finished work. I am not unusual compared with other artists and, in fact, I have the advantage of working with an unusual and sought after medium. The point I am making is often overlooked: Every artist runs a business. We all possess a romantic image of the artist feverishly painting at night and sipping wine in French cafes by day. The image should really be amended to include contacting and visiting galleries and potential buyers, studying other works of art, making phone calls to commercial clients, and perhaps waiting tables in that French caf[130] to have the cash to reinvest in materials to produce more work. It is no more fun and no less painful than any entrepreneurial experience. The Internet has opened up a completely fresh territory for career artists.

Art enterprises on the Internet today include basic graphic and photographic services, sound services, and production and writing services. Online galleries exist where art can be purchased and where artists can, for a fee, display their work. Periodicals and fee-based databases in the arts can be obtained by subscription. With the emergence of online catalogs and improved graphical interfacing, corporations will likely have departments oriented toward online art and presentation. Agents will broker online talents to industry.

The basic human activity of meeting and social networking is catalyst for further creativity and business. Individual artists enjoy relatively equal access to the Internet as anyone else does. Not only are there online exhibitions, concerts, and performances, but there is an entire cyber culture that has always been on the network. Conferencing groups such as ECHO are based almost exclusively on the idea of artists, writers, and cultural observers hanging out and chatting. University home pages are a stimulating way to connect with the Web's resources. Public art has found its way to the Net in the same sense that it exists in public spaces. Perhaps we will see corporate-sponsored art on the Net—neighborhood beautification or percent-for-art-styled programming along the information highway, where virtual-reality technology will bring artistic environments to the home or office.