"When I speak to students and they ask how much money you can make in art, as if that is a reason to persue it, I tell them to do something else"
About this Quote
Joe Murray’s line lands like a door gently but firmly closing. It’s not anti-money so much as anti-motive: he’s rejecting the idea that art should be entered through the same doorway as finance, where the first question is ROI. The sting is in “as if that is a reason to persue it” (misspelling and all, which almost adds to the bluntness). He’s not offering a romantic speech about purity; he’s issuing a practical warning: if your primary fuel is predictable earnings, you’re choosing the wrong engine.
The intent is gatekeeping, but in a protective, almost merciful way. Murray isn’t saying students don’t deserve stability. He’s saying the market won’t reliably provide it, and the work itself won’t sustain you if your inner logic is transactional. Art requires long stretches of uncertainty, self-doubt, and unglamorous repetition; money can be a byproduct, but it’s a terrible compass. When he says “do something else,” he’s describing a psychological threshold: art demands a kind of compulsion, not a calculated career move.
Context matters: Murray comes from a working artist’s world where creative labor is routinely undervalued, and where “follow your passion” myths collide with rent. His bluntness is also a critique of the culture industry’s promise that talent plus hustle equals wealth. It doesn’t. What he’s really asking is sharper: if the money never comes, would you still make the work? If the answer is no, he’s saving you years of resentment.
The intent is gatekeeping, but in a protective, almost merciful way. Murray isn’t saying students don’t deserve stability. He’s saying the market won’t reliably provide it, and the work itself won’t sustain you if your inner logic is transactional. Art requires long stretches of uncertainty, self-doubt, and unglamorous repetition; money can be a byproduct, but it’s a terrible compass. When he says “do something else,” he’s describing a psychological threshold: art demands a kind of compulsion, not a calculated career move.
Context matters: Murray comes from a working artist’s world where creative labor is routinely undervalued, and where “follow your passion” myths collide with rent. His bluntness is also a critique of the culture industry’s promise that talent plus hustle equals wealth. It doesn’t. What he’s really asking is sharper: if the money never comes, would you still make the work? If the answer is no, he’s saving you years of resentment.
Quote Details
| Topic | Career |
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