It's better to....

Art by Delilah

It's better to...

It's better to be a pirate than join the Navy."

- Steve Jobs (1955-2011), Founder of Apple

You can follow the lastest trend with your art or you can set sial for hidden bouty with your own ship full of ideas. Maybe taking a little here and there from outher artist but building your own artist view as you sail off to Treasure Island.

It is easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better at the top.

"Henry Ward Beecher "

I have hear mention that a study of census data  by the National Endowment for the Arts found that nearly 2 million people earn a living as artists.

Lately, I’ve been interested in finding facts about the status of professional visual artists in this country. Is the “starving artist” a commonplace condition or a myth?
There was a time when becoming an artist meant devoting yourself to a starving, bohemian lifestyle, sleeping on a futon and burning your rejected works to stay warm. But artists should feel a little more encouraged now that a new study from the National Endowment for the Arts reveals that the artist lifestyle isn't as conventional wisdom might have it.

"Artists seem to have mastered the art of living as well. 35% of artists are self-employed and artists are 3 times more likely to work from home than the general laborer.On the whole, the NEA's results determined "artists to be entrepreneurial (more likely to be self-employed) and more educated than the workforce at large." Interesting facts about artist life styles click here to read more.

The median income for fine artists was $43,000/year.

Here is the list to aim for The Top of the Hill :

The 100 Best Living American Artists

PicassoMio has compiled a list of the best 100 living American artists, based on artwork sales, number and type of exhibitions, and other market factors. 

1. Bruce Nauman
2. Robert Rauschenberg
3. Cindy Sherman
4. Ed Ruscha
5. Jasper Johns
6. Lawrence Weiner
7. John Baldessari
8. Jeff Koons
9. Paul McCarthy
10. Richard Serra
11. Dan Graham
12. Bill Viola
13. Ellsworth Kelly
14. Nan Goldin
15. Tony Oursler
16. Mike Kelley
17. Raymond Pettibon
18. Matthew Barney
19. Carl Andre
20. Vito Acconci
21. Jenny Holzer
22. Frank Stella
23. Cy Twombly
24. Alex Katz
25. Jim Dine
26. Gary Hill
27. Richard Tuttle
28. Chuck Close
29. Dennis A. Oppenheim
30. Robert Gober
31. Barbara Kruger
32. Joseph Kosuth
33. Kara Walker
34. Roni Horn
35. Richard Artschwager
36. Martha Rosler
37. Doug Aitken
38. Christian Marclay
39. Robert Morris
40. Robert Ryman
41. Jack Pierson
42. William Wegman
43. James Rosenquist
44. Brice Marden
45. Louise Lawler
46. Paul Pfeiffer
47. Sherrie Levine
48. William Eggleston
49. Andrea Zittel
50. Chris Burden
51. Diana Thater
52. Lorna Simpson
53. Robert Longo
54. Matt Mullican
55. James Turrell
56. Robert Mangold
57. Andrés Serrano
58. Robert Barry
59. Sharon Lockhart
60. Elizabeth Peyton
61. Catherine Opie
62. Adrian Piper
63. Lee Friedlander
64. Robert Indiana
65. David Hammons
66. Gregory Crewdson
67. Donald Baechler
68. Peter Halley
69. John Currin
70. Joan Jonas
71. Julian Schnabel
72. Tom Sachs
73. Jim Shaw
74. Glenn Ligon
75. Mark Dion
76. James Welling
77. David Salle
78. Allan McCollum
79. Jimmie Durham
80. Philip-Lorca diCorcia
81. Terry Winters
82. Christopher Wool
83. Charles Ray
84. Rita McBride
85. Andrea Fraser
86. Helen Frankenthaler
87. Jonathan Horowitz
88. Larry Clark
89. Eric Fischl
90. Robert Adams
91. John Chamberlain
92. Tom Friedman
93. Mel Bochner
94. Dara Birnbaum
95. Sam Durant
96. Ellen Gallagher
97. Elaine Sturtevant
98. Allen Ruppersberg
99. Allan Sekula
100. Laurie Simmons

Thats a nice long list.. Out of 2,000,000 to be in the top 100. Paint on my friends and I hope to see your name on the list soon. Just remember brush miles gets you closer to the finish line and quitters never win.

Hugs

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com