If you have ever had dreams or aspirations in any fields that are considered art, you know how brutal the outside world can be towards your passions. From inordinate college tuition to the limited public venues to showcase your art, whether it be something visual, performance, or music, the modern world just seems to be the antithesis to the art it so desperately clings to for meaning. This becomes a harsh juxtaposition with the societal love of art in any form and the anxious manner in which aspiring artists are treated.
To say you want to be an artist is to be an outcast deemed an inevitable failure. Successful artists are born into it. They have talent. They got lucky in the cosmic game of roulette. This is a tragic fallacy, however, as no artist who ever lived or ever will live has made it without hours upon hours of hard work. The technical ability to create and understand the process of creating art takes practice and determination; it is not something someone falls into and becomes successful at accidentally. Art is passion in the purest use of the word possible. Even the most deliberate, calculated art is laid upon an immense foundation of passion.
The distinguishing reality of art is the ability to choose the perfect medium, in which you will portray your own perspective of reality. This garners intense scrutiny immediately; the gift of the internet instant gratification also means instant dissatisfaction. The anonymous audience you gain as an artist on the internet can be your salvation,but at the same time, it can be your downfall. The short attention span the internet portrays has been shown to have compounded with the "everything is joke" style meme culture, which can turn your honest self expression into the internet trend of the week.
Another important reality of being an artist in the 21st century is the constant struggle between being inspired by a genre, artist, style, or moment and making an original thought or original composition out of this. The negative connotation being derivative has, in addition to the turning wheel of constant fresh art, is any artist, who relishes in the past, can be quickly overlooked in favor of another artist jumping on the bandwagon on the latest artistic meme or trend.
The reality of being an artist in the 21st century is not necessarily a dark or dim reality,however, it is seemingly a hugely hypocritical one.
