Before I even considered applying to art school, I’d heard enough starving artist jokes to last a lifetime. To be fair, I’m no stranger to repetitive jokes (My name is Campbell, ever been to the soup aisle of your local grocery store?), but the whole “You want to pursue art? Have fun being a starving artist!” quip got old faster than a bag of lettuce in your fridge.Â
Where did this joke even come from? What does art have to do with your dinner? We can thank the good (debatable) people of the Romantic Era, from 1800 to around 1837 for this notion. The Romantic Era started as a response to rationalism, and led to a major obsession with nature. From here, artists were obsessed with connecting meaning to their work, bridging each piece to some inner monologue. They found that this fixation on meaning and truth helped them to understand their own minds. Why buy a journal when you can pretend the trees speak to you? This was actually an important turning point because artists started to enjoy turning contemporary and personal events into paintings, and news into art.Â
This almost spiritual connection to the subject matter transformed into this idea that art is inherently emotional, and that good art and suffering go hand in hand. Before this point, art was as much of a job as building houses or making clothes. It was a transaction. If the person who commissioned your painting said they wanted to be depicted on a throne wearing a blue cape with a cat in their lap, that was how you painted them… or else you wouldn’t get paid. You’d have cared about technique more than chasing how you’d depict whatever inner turmoil you may be battling.Â
The Romantics changed that notion. In order for your art to be considered great, it had to be tied to some many-layered scheme of sorrow. And so the “starving artist” joke got its footing and kept walking so far that it somehow made it to this century. This notion is horrifying to me, personally. For one, I love food. Also, if I had to wait for some emotional cataclysm every time I wanted to paint, my body of work would probably be reduced by two thirds. Unfortunately, whether or not people actually believe this idea, the jokes stuck. The starving artist joke has probably been heard by most aspiring artists, right alongside the whole “I can’t even draw a stick figure!” line.Â
All this to say, I don’t think all art should be meaningless. On the contrary, art is so intrinsically human, and it’s going to imitate life. Political art, or art based on your experiences is important, and can also be a great outlet if you happen to have a feeling you need to express. But, saying the only good art is born of suffering, or that it needs to be a suitcase packed with meaning and symbolism is incredibly reductive. Art, to put it simply, is expression. Maybe I need to express my most recent tragedy, but I also might be expressing myself through imagery I simply find cool. Let artists exist in that duality.Â
I know the joke often stems from people taking a crack at a career they might not want to understand, but it’s time to retire that punchline, lest I start making condescending jokes to the next STEM major that crosses my path. Save that poor soul from their fate from an artist who is tired of watching the arts constantly be undervalued. Who wrote your favorite movie that you watch after a long day of classes? Who designed the cover that made you want to pick that book off the shelf, and who wrote it? Who designed the logo of that coffee shop where you get your pick-me-up after your midterms? Who drew the silhouette of your favorite shirt? That’s what I thought. Find some new material, or, better yet, find an artist to write you some.Â