I am very often asked "Would you like to be able to live off your art?" This is indeed a very difficult question to answer. In an ideal world I guess it would be nice to be able to do so. On one hand there is one's work or profession. Is it wise to give all that up? Why work so hard for many years, create something and then let it go? This is even harder when you are lucky enough to enjoy what you do. Even with a good job or profession one passes through ups and downs, just imagine with living off art! Lets face it, owning a work of art is not a priority (at least for most people). Then there is another side to the story. Would living off art affect the work i.e. creativity? Would there be bias? I.e. creating what people want, or are used to, rather than what you feel you should. Art is one of the things that allows one to be free, why lose this freedom?
Now living on such a small island living off art is even harder. Yes we've got great telecommunication today, however few opportunities, a small population, travelling to meet gallery owners out of Malta, and funding for art shows are a few of the barriers. And one may spend so much time trying to get out there that little time is left for creating new work?
With these thoughts in mind living off art is currently a pipe dream. Nonetheless 'DAILY BREAD' is the title of this new piece I am working on. It not only represents the interrogation point that remains in my mind every time I'm asked "Would you like to be able to live off your art?", but also the struggle many people have to go through to actually buy their daily bread. In this case the difference between these two points are that they are respectively at the apex and the base of Maslow' s hierarchy of needs!
