Free Agent: artist David Esquivel explains why he just left his galleries
Part of an ongoing series of interviews about how artists, writers and other creatives manage their careers
For my first Free Agent interview I speak with self-taught artist David Esquivel. As I mentioned in my last post, he made a recent Instagram post about how he would be moving away from working with galleries to represent himself again. When we emailed he said that providing for himself financially trumped any social capital that might be gained by working with galleries, especially if it meant going into debt for his art.
“I always promised myself I’d work from zero as an artist, but never go into debt. I knew that would be a quick slide into ending whatever career I was trying to have. I felt my career momentum slipping and I knew I had to make a change now before it was too late.”
As someone who has often done a lot of work without being paid (co-directing a gallery, producing a podcast, running a lecture series) and who went very much into debt for my art (yikes so much debt), I was curious to understand his perspective which sounded so pragmatic.
Reading his responses made me wonder how much of my own approach to my career was informed by white privilege, and a desire to look good on paper so that I could play the art world game. And how much of the latter I owe to my aforementioned people-pleasing tendencies.
What surprised me the most about his responses is that working outside of a gallery system made David feel more connected to his audience.
“With the gallery, I felt like there ended up being a barrier that isolated me from that community…Now I’m back in a position where someone who finds my work has direct access to me. And I have more direct access to them.”
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Have you gone your own way as a creative and had it work out? Or do you find that working within old models helps you feel more productive and reach a bigger audience?
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