Art Problems: Why Are There So Many Toxic People in the Art World?
Paddy Johnson with essential tips on how to protect yourself from insecure peers and bad-faith actors.
Why are there so many toxic people in the art world, and how do I protect myself — professionally and emotionally — from them? —A. Goodman, NY
Every industry has toxic people, but desperation gives the art-world toxicity its particular flavor. The field is full of people making and supporting art, but the money available from collectors, grants and philanthropy combined can’t sustain most of them. We fight over the scraps.
Some of us handle scarcity better than others, but nobody is their best self.
When I worked as an art critic, people often asked me to write pieces exposing the bad behavior of professionals they didn’t like. Often the targets deserved a takedown, but the requests never sat well with me (and usually weren’t stories, just gripes). Running down the list of terrible things I’ve seen people do, I wondered whether toxicity was just cluelessness.
