ExhibitionFebruary 21, 2023
Day Jobs at Blanton Museum of Art
What does an artist live on? Throughout art history, the idea of the artist who lives in poverty and only achieves recognition when they die in misery was built. Although we continue to question the viability of art for a person to decide to dedicate themselves solely to their creativity, today, it is one of the measures to validate the success of artists, as their economic capacity allows them to leave their day jobs and dedicate themselves full time to making art. However, these side hustles are not always impediments to an artist's career. Day Jobs explores how day jobs can spark creative growth by providing artists with unexpected new materials and methods, practical knowledge of a specific industry that becomes an area of artistic interest or critique, or a predictable structure that opens space for unpredictable ideas.
The exhibition will feature works made in the United States after World War II by artists who have worked part-time or full-time: dishwashers, furniture makers, graphic designers, hairdressers, ICU nurses, lawyers, and babysitters, and in several cases as employees of major corporations such as Ford Motors, H-E-B Grocery, and IKEA. The exhibition will include some 75 works in a wide range of media by emerging and established artists such as Emma Amos, Genesis Belanger, Larry Bell, Mark Bradford, Lenka Clayton, Jeffrey Gibson, Jay Lynn Gomez, Tishan Hsu, VLM (Virginia Lee Montgomery), Ragen Moss, Howardena Pindell, Chuck Ramirez, Robert Ryman, and Fred Wilson, among many others.
Day Jobs, the first major exhibition to examine the overlooked impact of day jobs on the visual arts, is dedicated to demystifying artistic production and dispelling the stubborn myth of the artist secluded in their studio, waiting for inspiration to strike. Day Jobs is conceived as a corrective to art history; the exhibition also encourages us to recognize more openly the precarious and generative ways in which economic and creative activities are intertwined. The show will make clear that much of what has determined the course of modern and contemporary art history are unexpected moments spurred by pragmatic decisions rather than dramatic epiphanies.
The exhibition will feature works made in the United States after World War II by artists who have worked part-time or full-time: dishwashers, furniture makers, graphic designers, hairdressers, ICU nurses, lawyers, and babysitters, and in several cases as employees of major corporations such as Ford Motors, H-E-B Grocery, and IKEA. The exhibition will include some 75 works in a wide range of media by emerging and established artists such as Emma Amos, Genesis Belanger, Larry Bell, Mark Bradford, Lenka Clayton, Jeffrey Gibson, Jay Lynn Gomez, Tishan Hsu, VLM (Virginia Lee Montgomery), Ragen Moss, Howardena Pindell, Chuck Ramirez, Robert Ryman, and Fred Wilson, among many others.
Day Jobs, the first major exhibition to examine the overlooked impact of day jobs on the visual arts, is dedicated to demystifying artistic production and dispelling the stubborn myth of the artist secluded in their studio, waiting for inspiration to strike. Day Jobs is conceived as a corrective to art history; the exhibition also encourages us to recognize more openly the precarious and generative ways in which economic and creative activities are intertwined. The show will make clear that much of what has determined the course of modern and contemporary art history are unexpected moments spurred by pragmatic decisions rather than dramatic epiphanies.
Gallery
