Ken Crost Art

Even though the statistics are sobering—only a small fraction of artists earn a full living from their work—the deeper question isn’t just about money. Art has always been precarious, but it also carries meaning, resilience, and connection that go beyond financial survival. A blog post on this theme can acknowledge the harsh realities while affirming why making art still matters.

Should We Really Make Art?

The numbers are discouraging. Studies show that millions of artists worldwide compete for a very limited number of collectors and audiences, and only a small percentage sustain themselves entirely through their creative work. In the U.S., about 2.4 million people identify as artists—roughly 1% of the workforce—yet most rely on secondary jobs or teaching to support their practice. The art market itself is oversaturated: with an estimated 125–250 million new artworks produced annually, far more than collectors can absorb.

So the question arises: why even try?

The Case for Quitting

It’s tempting to say that if the odds are stacked against us, perhaps the rational choice is to step away. The financial instability, lack of benefits, and cultural undervaluing of artistic labor make creative careers feel like a gamble. Many artists burn out under the weight of these pressures.

The Case for Continuing

Yet art has never been solely about income. Art is a mirror, a protest, a ritual, a way of making meaning in fractured times.Even when artists cannot live entirely from their work, they create because it is inseparable from identity and expression. The act of making art resists commodification—it insists that value is not only measured in dollars.

Moreover, history shows that artists often thrive in the margins. Movements from Dada to net art to today’s generative practices were born outside mainstream markets. They remind us that art’s vitality often comes from its refusal to conform to economic logic.

A Middle Path

Perhaps the real answer is neither quitting nor blind persistence, but reframing what “success” means in art. For some, it may be financial sustainability through hybrid careers. For others, it may be community impact, personal fulfillment, or cultural contribution. The daunting statistics don’t erase the fact that art continues to shape societies, heal individuals, and challenge systems.

Final Thoughts

To ask “Should we really make art?” is to ask whether meaning itself is worth pursuing in uncertain times. The statistics say the odds are slim. The human spirit says the work is necessary.

Art may not always pay the bills, but it pays in resonance, in witness, in the possibility of transformation. And that is reason enough to keep creating. And even though I have been tempted to hang it up at times, the postives one gets from the process of creation is too thrilling to ever say Stop.

Related Topics

• The economics of creativity

• Redefining success in art

• Art as resistance and resilience

• Hybrid careers for artists

• The role of community in sustaining creativity