Reading Response 7 - Bishop

A quote that really stands out to me from this text is “The virtuosic contemporary artist has become the role model for the flexible,mobile, non-specialized laborer who can creatively adapt to multiple situations, and become his/her own brand.” I strongly agree with this statement. The definition of artist we currently have in the world is much different than that of thirty, fifty, or a hundred years ago. The art world is so much more integrated into other worlds (like tech, business, fashion and so on..) that it is really hard to imagine the artists of the renaissance being the same as modern artists. This does not mean that artists have not been able to be something more than artists because of their era. As it is known, many famous artists also participated in other fields as well. For example, he was skilled in the fields of paleontology, astrology, anatomy, cartography, and of course, art. Nonetheless, art did not blend or immerse itself in other fields nearly as much as it does now. In our world today, artists are needed in practically every field : business, marketing, fashion, history, politics, science. Because of this, I believe that the text presents a contradiction to the words I quoted earlier. Because artists nowadays can “adapt to multiple situations, and become his/her own brand” I don’t think that the arguments by Sociologist Andrew Ross about the artist as part if the “ ‘No Collar’ workforce” relates. With the following quote “artists provide a useful model for precarious labour since they have the work mentality based on flexibility (working project by project, rather than nine to five) and honed by the idea of sacrificial labour (i.e. being predisposed to accept less money in return for relative freedom” Ross argues that artists have an overall flexible schedule and that they are relieved from the usual nine to five. This is not entirely true. Because modern artists can be a part of many different fields and industries, they can very much have a nine to five job just like an accountant or a banker. Because the idea of artists has changed and evolved, so has the way artists work and make a living. Ultimately it all comes down to what we think of as an artist. Are artists considered only as the people who own a studio and make their work all day everyday or sometimes not for months in advance? Or can an artist be someone who works photographing different campaigns for a company, designing for a clothing company, being a food stylist for a restaurant or cookbook publishing firm? In my opinion artists can be many things nowadays, and that is what makes the art world, and the world in general, more interesting every day.