From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   One claim made to discourage people from pursuing a career in the arts is that   
   artists can’t make a living. That is not always true. I have known artists   
   who could make a living with their art.   
      
   The real problem on this matter is as follows. The supply exceeds the demand.   
   There are many people who want to be artists; there are not enough people who   
   want to procure art.   
      
   The correct solution to this problem is to increase the demand for art. It is   
   to get more people to see value in art. Then more people will be buying art,   
   and more artists will be able to make a living.   
      
   Artistic types are constantly accused of a lack of realism. What people who   
   think such things don’t understand is that the reality of the civilization   
   is that it is what people make it out to be. Art becomes a part of reality   
   when more people value and    
   procure art. And that does not only benefit the artist. It benefits the   
   civilization and its inhabitants.   
      
   In the times to which we look back most fondly, there was both economic boom   
   and a cultural blossoming. We see this with Renaissance Italy. We see this   
   with 1920s United States. These times are cherished because they made the most   
   of man. Business and    
   technology vitalizes man’s productive potential; culture vitalizes man’s   
   creative potential. With these liberated to do their job of benefiting the   
   world, we see created a golden era.   
      
   More people need to understand such things. There are many who militate   
   against, and crush, the creative people. This is a horrible way to behave.   
   These people need to leave the creative people alone and let them proceed with   
   their work of making    
   cultural contributions. That way what they have to offer will be realized, and   
   people, country and civilization will benefit from it.   
      
   Both business and culture constitute accomplishment. Both therefore deserve   
   respect. Some see artists as narcissistic bums; in fact producing good art   
   takes hard work. I’ve worked most of my life. I also translated a vast body   
   of poetry by Russian    
   poets into English and have original ideas on a range of subjects. There is no   
   contradiction between art and reality. Art becomes a part of reality when real   
   people make it so.   
      
   Of course a part of the problem is owed to artists themselves. They created   
   bad styles such as avant garde and postmodernism, and their art fails to speak   
   to the people. However I have known magnificent artists who took an   
   oppositional stance to that    
   state of affairs while producing amazing artwork. These people, not NEA,   
   should be in the business of running the culture.   
      
   When I attended a poetry reading in Melbourne, people were thanking me for   
   bringing passion back into poetry. Passion – and beauty – is what poetry   
   is meant to be about. You lose that, you lose the poetic perspective, you   
   cease being a poet. I have    
   taken a different route.   
      
   So no, there is nothing unrealistic about art. It becomes realistic when   
   social reality accepts it. More people need to be made convinced of value in   
   the arts. I am doing my part toward that outcome. I hope that others do as   
   well.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)