The Business man, the
Scholar , and the Hermit
A Letter to Young Artists
Waswo X. Waswo
If you choose to eschew money
and politics, if you devote yourself single-mindedly to your art, then,
unless you were born independently wealthy, you need an ‘angel’ like
Filomina to bring your work to the world’s attention. Without an
angel, i.e., a gallerist, a dealer, a devoted collector, a self-sacrificing
family member or friend, you are doomed to financial poverty if not
ruin. True Hermit Artists are often secretly revered by Businessmen
Artists and Scholar Artists, and it is sometimes the Businessman
Artist or the Scholar Artist that comes to their financial aid. But I
offer a warning. If you are simply too lazy to be a Businessman Artist
or a Scholar Artist, this does not make you a Hermit Artist by default.
Being a Hermit Artist is the hardest work of all. It takes incredible
self-motivation and discipline. It is life-consuming.
Today’s art world favours Businessman Artists (and those who
aspire to be Businessman Artists) because quite frankly the art world
itself has learned to turn more and more upon money. Scholar Artists
are given their nod, but mostly to help preserve a veneer of integrity
among cultural marketers. Hermit Artists, if they are brought to the
art world’s attention, will be seen as marketable, or not marketable,
depending upon the quality of their work, their personal mythology,
and the perceived cost-benefit ratio of promoting their little-known
names and stories.