Where Art Thou, Commerce?

I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about the whole art vs. commerce debate. It’s a pretty relevant topic these days, as everyone (certainly most of my friends) are scrambling to make ends meet. And so smart, creative folks wind up doing things to pay the rent and things to float the boat. I was able to claim both at once on more than one occasion in my career; now it seems more like I am alternating between the two. Good thing the boat is moored in calm waters.

On that subject, I’d heard a story about a famous artist who was so popular that his agent was selling his work before it was even finished, for over a million dollars per piece. (And no, it isn’t me, but good guess.) And this guy, whose name rhymes with “Muck Mose”, was pretty livid because he felt—rightfully so—that it would affect how long he worked on a piece before he deemed it, quote-unquote “done.” If the money was already in the bank, the temptation would be to stop working, sign it, and ship it out.

I don’t have that problem. Nor do you, I presume. Usually I work on things—ideas, pitches, one-act plays about how deadline-oriented I am—and then send them into the maw of a hierarchical consumerist organization. And then I wait.

But what I have noticed is that some of my friends have begun to spend more time on their labors of love than their labors of like-to-get-paid. Not me. For better or worse, I certainly don’t spend a moment less wasting your time here than I do someone else’s time who may be paying me tons of money to hear what I think about music, sports or candy. Likewise, if it’s a commercial endeavor that isn’t the most exciting work in the world, I don’t give it a short shrift, in terms of brain power. And I use that term loosely.

I have a friend, whose name rhymes with “hay” (actually, it’s Jay Sylvester and his email address is jaysjunk@aol.com, if ya need some design work) and he actually takes my columns and does some pretty amazing graphic designs to accompany them. I cannot imagine that he puts any less effort into them than he does his own work. And I don’t post them here because I feel, in some ways, it would devalue his intent, which is basically to make me jealous that he is so much more clever than I. No, I think it’s just to say that he cares.

And that’s priceless, you know?

PS Here’s a logo that he recently did for BP. I know, I know, he’s brilliant. Don’t remind me.

BP ReBrand