JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party
Could you live on this?
MARGARET HEFFERNAN draws attention to a new report on the conditions of financial precariousness facing visual artists
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Last Breath, Sister Midnight, Opus, and The Electric State
HENRY BELL is moved by the account of scientists under seige in Leningrad who preferred to starve rather than sacrifice their life-saving work
RUTH AYLETT recommends two anthologies: one that bears witness to refugee and immigrant experiences, and the other to our political relationship to water
SETH SANDRONSKY appreciates a fresh take on a 100-year-old novel that helps to contextualise the current moment of conspicuous wealth, waste and climate chaos
A no-nonsense ex-Garda female cop, Scandi-noir’s newest flawed hero, the lure of Aussie gold, and unexpected decency in Silicon valley
JAN WOOLF doubts that soft-core musical is the best way to transmit an important story of heroism and resistance
ARTISTS are generally thought of as either starving in a garret (La Boheme and all that) or jammy millionaires producing works valued at eye-watering sums (hello, Damien Hirst). But the reality of life in the visual arts is more prosaic and a great deal more worrying, as the publication of Glasgow University’s report into the pressures facing UK visual artists reveals.
The median annual income for self-employed visual artists currently stands at just £12,500, 40 per cent less in real terms than they were earning in 2010. More than half of visual artists take on additional jobs, 51 per cent of which are in non-creative fields.
More from this author
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
Similar stories
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
CAROLINE FOWLER explains how the slave trade helped establish the ‘golden age’ of Dutch painting and where to find its hidden traces
ANDY MIAH advocates the use of AI to assist people by expanding access to global literature and culture
FRANCOISE VERGES introduces a powerful new book that explores the damage done by colonial theft