A piece of text-based art with the words “Some artists are seriously singular people who can’t do anything else, and some are seriously privileged people who can do whatever they want”.

There’s a clichéd view of artists as driven individuals who are starving in their garrets so that they can pursue their art. Poverty is a small price to pay for the expression of artistic genius. This is the romantic view of artists.

While it’s a very valid view, especially when it comes to the artists who are driven individuals starving in their garrets, there is another type of artist.

These are the artists who are the offspring of wealthy and well-connected parents. A quick Wikipedia look at the biographies of a few famous contemporary artists will show you what I mean. In the UK where I live it seems to particularly apply to sculptors, maybe because to become a sculptor requires a greater investment in studio space, equipment and materials than is needed to become, say, a watercolour artist.

And even with watercolour artists being privileged is a great advantage, as apart from such perks as being well connected, a huge advantage of privilege is that you can afford to fail.