Passionate but Ignorant: Reflections of an Emerging Artist
By L.DISANE
During semester one of the year 2018, I was registered at UNISA for a BCom Financial Management degree. And because I was a visionary rebel who wanted to change the world, I hated every moment of being a financial management student. I believed that a 9-5 career lifestyle would not be able to quench my desire and appetite for a “free” life, and that is exactly where that qualification was taking me.
The time for the June exams came, and I procrastinated instead of studying. Time moved fast and before I knew it, exam number one arrived. I woke up around 6am that day. The exam was at 11am, and I had briefly and nonchalantly browsed through my study guide and study content the night before. The assessment format was multiple choice, and because of that I did not stress much. “When in doubt, always choose C,” that is the advice we gave each other as students.
I left my flat to catch a taxi to the exam venue and as I was walking, my conscience said to me, “No dude. Be honest with yourself. Be honest with your parents. You cannot continue writing exams without studying. Commit to this, or do something else.” What a tough dilemma that was. The toughest of my life at that stage.
Image: Pixabay CCO
I chose to quit university, and on my way to catch the taxi, I took a detour instead, and entered a small park. Once I was seated comfortably, and had fully processed my decision, I called my father to let him know that I would no longer continue with my BCom Financial Management studies. I made my choice and decided to make drawing my alternative career path. My father asked me, with a slow and patient voice, “are you sure about this decision? Will you be able to sustain yourself?” I replied with the passion and anxiety of a dreamer, “yes dad, I will.” He accepted my answer.
My mother totally rejected my decision, but she ended up accepting it because she could not force me to study something I had no passion for. Fast forward to May 2022, and she might feel her initial reaction of rejecting my career choice was justified because I am here still at the starting point trying to find an art-career-breakthrough which will lead to a consistent flow of financial income into my bank account or cashsend platforms.
Yes, many years later, my actual reality looks very different to the vision I had in my mind when I chose drawing to be my career path. What my passion failed to tell me is that there is a whole lot of multi-year foundational work involved in making a career out of drawing; in fact making a career out of anything. My passion only said I would draw, and people would buy my art, but my ignorance showed vividly as I started walking the journey. I am a self taught artist who had to learn how to write an artist statement with the help of Google the week before his exhibition opening night.
There are plenty of people like me, especially in the field of arts, who committed to career paths without having done the proper research on those chosen career paths. We basically thought we could freestyle a life-long career because we love what we do. This is a strategy, or non-strategy, for emotional disaster. Poor planning exponentially increases the chances of failure. That is why I have struggled to breakthrough. I entered the art industry without any plan. I did not even understand how the art market is structured and who its participants are.
In conclusion: your passion is not enough on its own when choosing a career path. Careers operate in a network and sustained by agreed upon systems of operation. If you want to succeed in a particular career path, it is in your advantage to study that particular network and then see how you will enter, and create a legacy for yourself.
Do not let passion trick you into freestyling the most important decision of your life.
You risk ending up like me, constantly and stressfully learning from the back what I could have learnt from the front.
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