nyfa says, yes, there’s a Recession, and…

…illustrates it with work by Lawrence Swan, who says, among other things:

The art world, so-called, has been hit by the recession, and that means our ways of thinking about art and making art will change, like it or not. Do you really think that art made to adorn the homes of the rich, or made to be invested in by the rich to make them richer, is the highest form of art? Artists and dealers are now looking for new forms of distribution, new business models.

You can read the interviews with Swan and other hardworking creatives, like Kevin Regan (excerpted below) on nyfa.org, courtesy of Hrag Vartanian.

Kevin Regan, who co-runs Famous Accountants in Ridgewood/Bushwick.

The recession has made me more cautious. I went from working part-time as a commercial artist to working full-time. I was fortunate in that I could do this, but it’s not really what I want to be doing. I would prefer to focus on art and work only part-time. Working full-time really gets in the way of making art. I have to confess that I’m actually deeply pessimistic about the possibility of making a living from selling my art—but that’s okay! I don’t care. I want to do it anyway. I just need a minimal level of financial security. And this is what I was doing. When the economy plunged it just began to feel very irresponsible of me to be leaning on my wife as much as I was. So I stopped. I was worried about money for a little while, not because we couldn’t pay our bills, but because I was worried my wife was going to lose her job. Her support is what allowed me to work part-time. Ultimately, I guess I’m pretty lucky.

I’ve had to cut back on time. Space, supplies, and storage have not been a problem—yet. Again, I think I’ve been rather fortunate. My big frustration is not money but time. There just never seems to be enough of it. I traded time for money.

I’m planning on showing Swan at 45projects in my upcoming Guilt Show, fyi, along with Regan’s Famous Accountants partner, Ellen Letcher.