Do you make Art to sell or is it just a hobby?

This is a question that crops up a lot. It has led me to reflect on the motivation behind my creativity and the rationale for my aversion to the term “hobby”.

Koyaanisquatsi, a 1982 American film (Godfrey Reggio /Phillip Glass) literally translated as “Life out of Balance”. Whilst, for the most part, my work is certainly a commentary on the ongoing environmental crisis; global warming, deforestation… my intention is , without minimising these issues in any way, much broader - a response to everything in this tornado of dysfunction, disillusion and destruction both locally and globally; “Life out of Balance”. Mostly, I am lucky to find myself in a relatively calm space where I have the luxury of being able to reflect and take time out from exposure to the 24 hour, all you can eat, diet of trauma and injustice flooding through the media.

A year on, after graduating from Art Academy London’s 2 year Fine Art Foundation, my awareness of the tornado is no less. My Art, like my focus, lurches from crisis to crisis and regularly freezes in the overwhelm of where to begin. That said, immersion in the processes of experimentation are of themselves a welcome distraction from the storm and a productive means of reflecting and engendering meaningful conversations - the latter being The Point. Furthermore, it is the immersion in a process of regular practice with a Point in mind which distinguishes what I, and possibly many artists, are doing from a hobby. Passing Time as suggested by the notion of a Pastime, or hobby, is very far removed from my experience of artistic practice. The point of making Art can’t be, for me, just about making money. I have been fortunate enough to establish other, possibly less tortuous, ways to make money (and from which I also derive a huge amount of satisfaction). That is not to say that I reject the possibility or the desire to make money from my Art, or that I am dismissive of it’s monetary worth, indeed when it happens it is a welcome affirmation and boost to my materialistic ego, despite being a drop in the ocean of the cost of art supplies. In any event, the intention to make money almost certainly changes the outcome of the work and thus, potentially, reduces the drive.

And so, The Point (and the answer to the question) is, at least today albeit in some barely visible way - and not forgetting that I do it because I can’t not do it and I love doing it, I make Art to make a difference. As with any problem, the first step is to notice that there is a problem, then to acknowledge the problem, to reflect upon it and to talk about it - all this in ever increasing circles until, ever so slowly, maybe the tide begins to turn. Conversation and Connection is The Point. A luxury perhaps and a necessity indeed.

Kathy de Zilwa