For the past few weeks, academies across the country have been celebrating: a new batch of visual artists graduated and showed themselves to the world. Besides parents, grandparents and a few friends, a lot of art professionals descend on such a graduation presentation. Scouts, in the form of other artists, press, curators, collectors and gallery owners. All these people especially hope not to miss the new discovery and therefore try to be there as early as possible. In some cases, that is even before the artist graduates from the academy. If the talent does not develop as expected, it is a pity, but otherwise you are the discoverer. We join in for a moment, and sought out 22.
So there is increasing pressure on the newly graduated artist. Pressure that does not come at the right time for everyone. Some need another period to figure out what they want. Most artists who have just graduated are still younger than Vincent van Gogh, who only started painting around the age of 27. You may also wonder if a four-year crash course is enough to show yourself to the world as a mature artist.
[Tweet "On average, 500 new artists showcase themselves to the outside world for the first time every year. "]Despite all these reservations, it must be said that many young artists often manage to produce convincing works in that short time. Even though such an education is short, after four years many know very well what they are doing and what they want. Some discover by the time they graduate that they do not aspire to a career as an artist, while others see opportunities for further development.
On average, 500 new artists show themselves to the outside world for the first time every year. Of those 500, only a handful end up making a real living from being an artist. That is not a pretty prospect but it is reality.
Like many of the scouts, we also make a list of what graduated this year, the cream of the crop of 2014's lightings throughout the Netherlands, the ones we hope to see a lot more of in the future.
ABKM at Maastricht;
AKI/ArtEZ from Enschede
AKV Den Bosch;
ArtEZ from Arnhem;
Fontys Tilburg;
Groningen-based Frank Mohr Institute;
HKU from Utrecht;
KABK from The Hague;
Minerva academy Groningen;
From the Rietveld of Amsterdam;
From Sint Joost Breda;
The Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam;
Of course, this too is just a selection at the time and who knows, we may never hear from some now....
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