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Art Beyond the Bubble! an on-going artist's statement on the value of the arts

2008, February 25 - Update 4
Bailouts


below is a slightly-tongue-in-cheek comment i posted recently on a financial site i have a tremendous amt of respect for, calculated risk, followed by my attempt to merge the financial concerns this particular article on calculated risk raised with the concerns of being an artist today

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 Adan Lerma writes:
i vote in favor of the boa bond holder bank investor home owner bailout if:

1. anyone anywhere in the u.s. at anytime in the future has a mortgage on a property who's property goes below value can also automaically have their loan re-done to the new lower value with the excess amt forgiven; no exceptions for income levels, race, gender, or sexual preference

2. any loan reduced with debt forgiven as per # 1 above, where the value of the property in question rose above the amt owed in the loan would have that amt added to their loan as monies due, with the loan debt portion to be carried by the bank or $ institution that had gained by the debt reduction / forgiveness during the process of # 1 above

3. fees and interest earned by any $ institutions gained on the portion of the debt reduction / forgiveness program would be removed from the $ institution's balance sheet and paid back to the tax payers' govt and used to reduce the deficit and not used to fund new or continuing tax funded programs in place

4. a simple 10% fee paid daily to me on all savings ever actually accomplished by any of the above actions, tax free, and to my heirs as long as the dollar exists, there after to be paid in gold or silver, as thanks for the simple fair solution of how to fairly handle the current mess (no in-kind pmts please :-)
Adan Lerma | Homepage | 02.23.08 - 3:42 pm | #

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commentary on my comment
beyond the non-bubble need to cover one's "cost of living" or earn a living, the questions of fairness and bailouts wouldn't seem to immediately be of interest or applicability to a practicing artist

i believe this is only true if one is not concerned with authenticity

and to be fair, and honest, i don't think all artists, or any one artist, has any mandate to have to be authentic; being commercial as a choice for any reason, is for me valid for that artist, if the artist recognizes it is a choice

after all, even if monies are direly needed, one can starve - though unless one is driven internally without recourse to maintaining one's sanity without pursuing nothing else but one's art, i myself wouldn't recommend starving  :-)

i won't comment on points 1 through 3 above posted on calculated risk, i'm not a financial expert, and made the comment as a partial tongue-in-cheek frustration-response at what seems to be an unfair proposal to bail out only "some" participants which in my mind would penalize everyone preceding and following after this narrowly defined group to "rescue" - there, that's done :-)

in regard to # 4 above, well  :-)  can't blame a guy for trying can you? especially when the effort was more toward making a joke than realistically expecting to make a buck

i would highly recommend reading the original article on calculated risk i'd responded to, plus the many, more financially articulate reader comments, posted on that site

there seem to be at least a couple of connections that come to mind

one significant tie-in is regard to trying to protect prices to protect people who have invested previously and want to be bailed out if the value of that they invested in goes down in value, especially if what has been invested in has been leveraged or sold on to someone else as an investment

as an artist, rather than an art broker, i am more concerned with the authenticity of each painting or poem i create, than how the value holds up in an arbitrary market determined by factors other than my art

would i be concerned if my individual works, for sale or sold, changed in value to the downside?  i'd be silly and untruthful if i said no; but if i remained true to my artistic intent and sincerity, i couldn't feel i had to abandon my own integrity to protect prices the market had previously thought appropriate

after all, if the value of any work already sold, including possibly limited rights to my writings, and the demand or interest in those works signified higher prices available for them, would i be entitled to differential compensation, if not previously negotiated for that right?  i wouldn't think so

another factor or tie-in would be the psychological notion behind the idea that one's every effort should be artificially propped up by others because it would be uncomfortable or bad for me

it doesn't mean i'm not open to assistance, encouragement, or just plain help, either financially, artistically, marketing, or emotionally

it does mean i believe i should be and actually am willing to try to stand on my own re prices for my work as per the market, and continue creating works of visual and written art because i want to, maybe even sometimes need to, but do so because it is a crucial part of who i am  -  "art beyond the bubble!"

whatever that bubble might be  :-)

thank you much,


adan

ps - future bubble updates will hopefully continue to connect to and elaborate on the financial events in our broader lives that gave rise to my trademark pending phrase