Art Slave

So one of the artists called me "Art-slave" last night after the panel discussion. At first I was a little offended. But you know, maybe it's true. I have no money- I'm volunteering as an intern at Traingle, I am almost never selling my own work. I get home at 7-8 PM after a 10 hour day and try to make something happen in my own studio. And unfortunately, I have no time to do anything else but these two things right now. Now, noone is forcing me to do this, except myself and the pressures of the art-world, I guess. If you aren't working that hard, how can you gain legitimacy, but if you are working that hard, does anyone respect you for it? Let me acknowledge that I know that the artist who said this was kidding, and I have seen first hand how intensively these Triangle artists are working right now, so they are in the same boat, really. Luckily I got the weekend off this week and got some real things accomplished. Have to admit, that the panel discussions have reinforced this idea of the artist working without recognition or compensation- first we had curators basically saying, "Yes, we're biased, but that's the way it is, and at least we're not as big sell-outs as the guys in Chelsea." Then last night in a spirited discussion about the emerging "International Style," the big time art-markets, whether or not NY is "the center of the art world," we all end up feeling a little like WTF?! Keep doing your thing, don't "try to be like someone else" is the prevalent attitude, but don't expect to make any money without gearing yourself towards the current trends. I just don't know. I am not sure the "bad" artists are to blame as much as collectors and curators with a flock mentality- if one powerful gallerist likes bad art, it must be good, right? Anyway, sorry for the rant, will keep doing my thing and keep my nose out of it in future.