Michael Zheng is opening a next exhibition of video documentaries in which he asks his former classmates five years out of a studio MFA program, “What’s it like having a career as an artist?” They speak of their creative and financial challenges, expectations and the professionalization of the contemporary art world that is partially the result of the proliferation of MFA studio programs.
This is a different side of the NEA’s “Art Works” slogan and the Artists in the Workforce study, a more engaging window into the lives of artists … and yet one that encompasses a group of people and will (hopefully) speak to the bigger picture of what life as a working artist is like, from an artist’s perspective and from the perspective of his peers, competitors and collaborators–people who mostly went through bachelor’s degree programs and then took on a further commitment of time and resources to be working artists.
I am very excited to see the results of Zheng’s research. The exhibition opens May 21 with a reception from 6pm to 9pm at the Marina Abramovic Institute West, 575 Sutter Street, San Francisco.