The Bourgeois Artist Manifesto

Ah the quiet luxuries of stolen moments. Living only for the joy, not in ivory towers, tax solvent studios, or squats, we work at home. Making art for the domestic experience, for the family, for the friends, art to show and share in moments of intimacy. The bourgeois artist did not have the possibilities of selling out big.

A stance opposing the market.
Unable to thrive in the commercial realm, unable to quit producing art as a way of life, we make art as a way of life and share it with the people in our surroundings. Friends and family are not sufficient to support a business, but they are enough to support a life. The bourgeois artist seeks to find space for life and creation in barter and mutual support.

We revel in the quotidian.
We live in the tasks and activities of the everyday. We make cards for birthdays and holidays, we paint murals on our children’s nursery walls, we make art for our journals and as gifts for friends. The bourgeois artist transforms the everyday into the profound, drawing out the truths of a life lived.

Art is for the everyday.
Bourgeois art is always contemporary, relevant, engaged. The bourgeois artist makes art about their experience as they engage in the obligations that make every day life possible more than the artist that has time to seclude away in their studio. The bougeois artist often makes art in their bedroom, window nook, dining room, or kitchen table, in the moments around housekeeping, in the moments around family.

Artists who live life.
The bourgeois artist took time away from the hustle to care for elders, children, and family. The bourgeois artist takes care of the home. The bourgeois artist gave time from art to life. The bourgeois artist lives life as art. The bourgeois artist questions the professionalization of art, when professional spheres are inaccessible to them.