Professional artists do exist

A stereotypical portrayal of an artist's life is living in a bathroom-stall-size apartment, painting until the early morning while viciously hungry because they've used all their money to buy paint instead of food. This is the kind of artist everyone wants to be -- the kind who struggles to live and suffers for their art. Supposedly, this is the type of artist that "creates" the best art and makes millions after they die.

People don't seem to realize that the "starving artist" life is pretty far from the truth for a lot of famous painters/sculptors/etc. Many popular artists were, or are, pretty well off. Artists can even get rich; take, for example, Pablo Picasso. That commie did not have to work a day in his life and he lived a sweet existence until his death. At the height of his career, Picasso once signed a canvas, joked that he could sell it as art, and made $5,000 (in the early 1900s mind you) by selling the autograph to some foolish patron.

Nowadays, being an artist is akin to being an engineer or an architect. It can be a better-than-decent career and supply enough work that you are slaving at the easel 40 hours a week. Artists such as Brian Goggin, whose newest project will be located in front of the University Heights Community Center on Northeast 50th Street and University Way, are working-class artists, whose lives are similar to those of Raphael and Michaelangelo.

Goggin gets good money from wealthy institutions to make great art. For his newest piece, "Traffic of Ideas," Goggin will be getting 1 percent of the Ave. Project funding, or $35,000. This is only the tip of the iceberg. According to Goggin, more funding is being allocated for later projects. For one art installation, Goggin will be making more than many professions typically pay per year, such as journalism.

It's not like Goggin doesn't earn his keep as an artist. In the past nine years, Goggin has received 13 commissions, including the Ave. Project, and nine of these commissions paid for permanent, site-specific structures; meaning that his art will be around forever for people to gawk at. Some of his patrons include Yahoo!, the Web tool provider; Sacramento International Airport; and the cities of Palo Alto, Calif., San Francisco, and San Antonio, Texas.

Receiving income from huge corporations and city governments did not water down any of Goggin's art. Goggin's portfolio parades an artist with fetishes for humor and confusion. With every piece he seems to prompt his audience to ask, "How did you do that, and why?" In February of 1997, he completed "Defenestration," a mural on the side of a dilapidated four-story tenement building in San Francisco that featured furniture pasted to its exterior. According to Goggin, all of the furniture was taken from the streets and the mural itself is supposed to "reflect the harsh experience of many members of the community."

"The simple, unpretentious beauty and humanity of these downtrodden objects is reawakened through the action of the piece. The act of "throwing out" becomes an uplifting gesture of release, inviting reflection on the spirit of the people we live with, the objects we encounter, and the places in which we live," said Goggin about the piece in a fit of "artiness."

Defenestration earned Goggin a beautification award from San Francisco Beautiful and a Bay Guardian Best of the Bay Award for Best Gonzo Art Funk Project.

Posting furniture to buildings is not the extent of Goggin's creativity, but furniture and other household items are his main artistic mediums. Goggin's first commissioned art display, "Climbing Frenzy," featured several chairs and tables climbing on top of each other to exit the San Francisco Art Commission Gallery from the ceiling. For his piece the "Body of Urban Myth," Goggin sculpted an imitation Greek goddess holding a washing machine, and turned it into a fountain located at Sheridan Plaza in Palo Alto, California.

"Via assemblage, an attention to detail and fine craftsmanship, a versatile use of materials and juxtaposition, I create works which make the improbable appear plausible, while challenging expected notions of how we perceive and interact with the environment," said Goggin.

For "Traffic of Ideas," Goggin did not feel like challenging any notions regarding the U-District. The art installment will emphasize the area's relation to scholastic activities and will be made up of 21 bronze-sculpted books flying away from atop the University Heights' gateways.

"In this artwork, I look to create an image which references the merging of the radical and progressive ideas preserved in books, with the imagination of poets and novelists, academic research and thought preserved in publication, to create a dream-like vision of flocks of ideas flowing with, and against, the traffic of social thought," said Goggin in his presentation of the piece for the commission.

Sure, it seems this piece will be groundbreaking, but it is very tame compared to Goggin's previous work. There are many issues for the U-District that could be addressed by publicly displayed art, such as its overwhelming cultural diversity or its domination by locally owned businesses. Still, Goggin decided to take the safe route and help put back the University in University District.

Now whether or not Goggin is selling out is something he will have to determine through introspection. People can make art for money without losing their artistic integrity, but in most artistic professions there will be times when the artist just pumps out art to put food on the table. When you make a living being creative the fact that being aesthetic is your job becomes more apparent and your artistic drive loses momentum. At least in Goggin's case he received $35,000 and won't have to choose between clay and food.