Since I entered university, because of my career, I started to surround myself with artists. Many of them don't exist today: some because they have died and others because the economic situation forced them to reinvent themselves. That is a word that is fashionable in Venezuela. While reading your text I remembered a very talented artist friend of mine, Celeste, who started her master's degree with me and was a very brilliant artist. I remember that after class we would go to museums, bars, the cinema and Celeste was always full of ideas. She had a promising future in painting. The big problem: Celeste had to take some substances to be well, cheerful and to work. I remember the last time I saw her she looked like a broken doll. She asked me for a coffee and a cigarette. She told me that she stopped painting in the pandemic. In some countries, to say that you are an artist is synonymous with ‘you are going to starve to death’. They don't see it as a profitable profession. However, I pray that the life of an artist can be glorious, but as they are very ‘visceral’, they are exposed to fall to the bottom rung, to the basement of this universe. I embrace you, Eric.
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I'm sorry to hear about your friend, Celeste! A creative life can be difficult too. Here in America there's also that stereotype of the "starving artist". Creativity isn't valued as much here as it would be in some other parts of the world. What I love when I go to Montreal is people are genuinely interested in art and writing there. These artists featured in the videos were the ones who found success. Today there SO much talent out there that you really have to be lucky and inventive to make a success of it. Most successful artists I know today have several different revenue streams, some of them have nothing to do with art. I hope you have a wonderful weekend my friend!