Artistic people and their flexible work environment

Victoria Seiketso Sethibe | Thursday March 2, 2017 18:31

Below is a fictitious success story of how Boiki* carved his niche into the international art market:

Being born to a very young, newly graduated couple, Boiki spent his early childhood at his maternal grandparents’ place with the grannies, uncles, aunts and cousins while the parents were busy trying to settle at their new jobs. Growing up in a traditional set up unique to his ethnic identity in his home village, his close attachment to his extended family left some lasting memories about his rich culture in his mind.

When he was about eight years old, Boiki moved into the city with both his mother and father, who resided just opposite an open market.

The aesthetically appealing pieces of artwork dominating the main street in the market place fascinated him a lot. Although Boiki enjoyed playing with his friends, he got more fulfilled when they accompanied him to the market place where he took keen interest in watching the artists at work.

The regular visits to the artists’ exhibitions inspired Boiki to start communicating things that caught his attention, both memorable and sad, through free hand sketches on some cardbox pieces and displayed them at his house.

Being the only child in his immediate family, also helped to divert Boiki’s attention to art, mostly in the night, when his friends were out of sight and his parents would be mainly preparing for the next day at work. Realising how art got the best out of Boiki, his parents praised him for every effort he made.

As time went by, he started collecting any waste that could help him tone shade (the use of colour to give an artistic impression of his work) his free hand sketches. He also began to learn about toxic waste and rokettube how to differentiate it from non-toxic waste from some radio outreach educational programmes accessible in his community.

Thirteen years later, Boiki is now a young man of 21 years whose self-taught geometric artwork sells impressively well in some sought after museums, even across borders. Boiki is now a valuable member of some artists’ associations. He continues to value his work so much that he took a step further to secure his work through some intellectual property laws.

Working from his own studio at home gives him an opportunity to spend as much quiet time as he wants to, vividly creating images about the rich culture he experienced as a child, in his mind. Once the mental images are complete he would transfer them on paper, something he finds difficult to do under some noisy conditions. It is for this reason that some of his peers perceive him a snob and a “nerd” for committing to his passion most of the time.

Artistic people prefer to work in unstructured and flexible environments as evidenced in Boiki’s case. He clearly in his own terms as he is free to take breaks whenever he feels exhausted. People in artistic careers also tend to have high aesthetic values.

Boiki shows this value in the way he has always gone an extra mile to hunt for non-hazardous waste that he used to tone shade his work. Artistic careers can also be very financially rewarding, especially if the artist has found a niche in the market. Boiki’s secret to success is in the geometric work that depicts the rich and very unique cultural heritage he has.

Other artistic careers include but are not limited careers such as choreography, composing, photography, interior designing, directing and singing.*Not his real name.