Why I Don't Make Art For a Living: How Capitalism Kills Creativity - Nadya Primak

Similarly, I wonder whether the creator economy, as it matures, will resemble less of its original promise (a way for people to do the things they love), in favor of a “creator industrial complex.” Part of the problem is that creativity comes in fits and starts, and can’t always be tamed into a predictable routine. If you’re obligated to create som... See more

The narrative that art or creativity isn’t real work (as described below) is just one element of a much bigger discussion about what is considered and adequately valued as “real work” in today's society and economic system and what isn’t. As I wrote in Aliveness: Reframing Productivity: “We don’t really think of productivity as a measure of being

... See more

Illustrator Karlotta Freier recalls being mocked by her art school classmates for asking about how to make a living as an illustrator. “No one would make fun of a plumbing student for asking about the business side of things,” she says, “so why don’t I get to ask?” For decades, the promise of a creative career was the alleviation of the worst parts

... See more

Graphic design, the discipline of aesthetic production, is facing a crisis as it reconciles with catastrophic effects of network technology on its profitability. Even prolific designers who produce work with a characteristic original aesthetic are quickly copied. As their work is pillaged and reproduced downstream (leftstream), it becomes increasin... See more

The unabated “creative destruction” of one kind of capital after another has only further increased the wealth of a few and done nothing to emancipate the overall collective creative spirit, which has remained stagnant. Today, almost every artistic effort inevitably (perhaps unknowingly) reinscribes the values of the ruling capitalist class.

Whether our society chooses to describe something as creative or destructive is at best in the eye of the beholder and at worst entirely deceptive. Communities, livelihoods, and ecosystems are routinely destroyed in the pursuit of so-called creativity. Creativity at Facebook arguably destroyed local news. Creativity in fast-fashion is catastrophic ... See more