How do artists get remunerated for experience-based work?

I was given the question: “How do artists get remunerated for experience-based work?” via email on April 24th.

I responded with “Thank you for asking me. Yes, I will be happy to do it.” on April 27th.

It is now 12:03am on May 5th, the day my response is due. Off and on I have been struggling to find an answer. I have a day job and I have my art making, I have a solo show coming up very soon, I have a side job for needed extra money and I have my lecture for Open Platform to prepare for. So many balls juggling in the air. Limited time and horrible writing skills….

If I suddenly had the magical power to grant one wish and I could decide how artists get remunerated for experience-based work, I would do it this way:

An artist writes up a brief document explaining the concept for an experience-based artwork and includes listing the amount of time spent planning and writing the document and then sends it to the Art Services Department, which is a service modeled on the WPA’s Federal Art Program initiated during the Great Depression. The concept in the document is not judged on artistic merit, but on feasibility and if not approved the artist is given the right to appeal the decision, if it is approved then the artist performs the work and is remunerated for the time involved in performing the action, I would like there to also be the possibility of allowing documentation of an already performed work for payment. This is just a rough idea, and given in the hope of spurring dialogue. Certainly some potential abuses or contradictions may arise, for instance, the state approving what is and isn’t an experience-based work can alarm some of the more libertarian of us. The original Federal Art Program helped support many artists working in diverse styles who were not popular at the time including Jackson Pollack and Alice Neel. What would the pay rate be? I don’t know.

I believe that we are at a time where good jobs are scarce, we are in a seemingly endless recession or at worst a new depression. Many trade and conventional (traditionally assembly-line) jobs are outsourced or automated, work in print media is changing, the tenure track for professors is largely broken, leaving underpaid adjunct teachers with little job security, and many of the new jobs appearing are low paying service sector jobs. How does this effect artists? A healthy middle-class is important as a support network for artists. Going back to how I started this post––Emerging artists cannot work all day doing other jobs they deem less important and still have time and energy to focus on an art practice. When there is an audience and a large pool of potential benefactors artists have a better chance to survive. In the current climate there few opportunities and new, untried, or unusual art projects cannot get a foothold.

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About the contributor: Bernard Klevickas is a sculptor who utillizes industrial processes in an expressionist manner to create objects of meticulous refinement with an interest in exploring the possibilities of surface and form. As an aspiring artist developing his own sculpture over the past 24 years Bernard has at various times fabricated sculpture for the artists Jeff Koons, Louise Bourgeois, Frank Stella, and others. He has a manufacturing certificate in CNC (computer numerical control) machining and manual lathe and mill operation and a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His sculpture has won many awards and has been shown indoor and outdoor in numerous exhibitions in New York City, the New York Hudson Valley, Chicago Illinois, West Palm Beach Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Dallas Texas, Istanbul Turkey, Venice Italy, and Bermuda. He is currently doing a residency at Materials For the Arts in Long Island City, New York culminating with the solo exhibition “History of Stuff” opening May 16th. www.bernardklevickas.com