Three Types of Artist

People make art for three main reasons.

The first and most obvious is in order to make: both in the manner of fabricating something and also in the sense of making a living. The commercial artist thus utilises their skills in a transactional capacity. The term artisan is often applied in this context and can be used broadly to recognise the artistry in a range of professions. There may be social utility in the work they create, they may draw on deep inspiration and derive satisfaction from the work, but the fundamental goal of this type of artist is the creation of something that someone else is prepared to pay for.

The expressive artist conversely creates to fulfil an inner desire. The work they produce seeks to reify experience, share perceptions or lay bare internal contradictions. The art produced may well be of interest to others who take inspiration or learn from it. The artist might sell the work or be commissioned to produce it, but ultimately the driving force is the need to create, to express, to bring out what is experienced within.

For the citizen artist the work is a means of practicing citizenship, of fulfilling their social obligation as member of a functioning democracy. Their art may encompass the bringing of issues to light, passing on the skills of rhetorical and aesthetic agency or it may provide cultural spaces for democratic engagement. The citizen artist may be salaried, work to commission or volunteer. They will likely invoke their own artistic vision, aesthetic sensibilities and be drawn to issues they are interested in but this type of artist will always be motivated by the shared impact of the work and its contribution to society.

Note:

Very few professional artists will fit neatly into these categories. The reality of making a living and adapting to prevailing contexts means that many will be motivated by all three goals across different projects, or indeed, within the same one. However, my contestation is that, irrespective of the nature of the 'present gig', the artist's identity will be constellated around one of these.