Everyone, even remotely attached to the field of art and design would be well acquainted with the stories of struggling artists battling for their survival. There have been extremely tragic stories of artists burning and eating their leather shoes, diseased and disabled, unable to meet their health expenditure, eventually dying in hunger, pain, and poverty. But the actual tragedy usually begins after their death, when their paintings begin to fetch millions of dollars in the glitzy market of art. Someone who has actually died of hunger or of disdain due to lack of appreciation goes on to be exploited as the source of million-dollar investments, rubbing salt on the wound, these tragic stories are also used by the art dealers as ornamentation on the paintings to boost the price further and further.
Through this article, I've tried to bring forth the predicament of aspiring artists who despite having innate artistic talent, passion, and skill, have to leave behind their love and purge their dreams, just due to lack of means necessary to pursue their artistic inhibitions. Eventually, they sacrifice their art and expressions and lose themselves in the huddle of "essential" mundane labors, just to ensure a minimum livelihood for sustenance. Their fight against the whole universe just to secure some professional and respectable work quite often ends with the end of art itself, and not so rarely, even with the end of the artist themselves.
History exemplifies that any artist whose talent got its due recognition and appreciation by society, went on to redefine the history of that era, but the lack of such timely appreciation has resulted in sad tales of gloom, disdain, and melancholy. Now all we could spare for them is a surprise, horror, and a whole lot of pity. We can immensely help just by acknowledging and appreciating the talent present around us today and forbid any recurrence of such horrific tales.
The complicated economics of arts, as well as the disproportionate celebration and veneration of celebrity artists too, are responsible for the plight of unknown talents hidden in obscure corners of the world. Unlike sports, the artists at the top usually don't bother to create a milieu that could encourage the struggling artists at the bottom to climb up the ladder. The presence of an enlightened and empathetic society will pull the art away from the crooked laps of greedy art dealers and investors and enable an environment with uniform opportunities for all aspiring artists. Each artist we nurture, enable, encourage, acknowledge, and appreciate as a society, will in turn introduce us to unique and unknown dimensions of the art world hitherto unexplored.