Why Art Is Done on The Side These Days

This interview illustrates the fact that our most meaningful artistic or creative activities are increasingly done on the side these days, because as soon as they become our main bread and butter, various cultural and social pressures would take away our ability to use them as our creative outlets. So, we end up doing our most meaningful work on the side.

I think this is a very recent phenomenon. Here’s my theory: Our tools of production have become so efficient that our capacity for production now far exceeds our ability to come up with meaningful artistic ideas. Just cranking out as many artworks as we can, isn’t so meaningful or fulfilling. Ultimately art is about quality, not quantity. So, we can actually execute our ideas on the side. There is no need for them to be part of our job.