Topic Battle

The professional artist demonstrates a functional lifespan of 40-60 years from initial training through productive retirement, with some practitioners remaining active well into their ninth decade. Pablo Picasso produced significant works until his death at 91 years.

Unlike manufactured devices, artists possess biological self-repair mechanisms and demonstrate improvement rather than degradation over time. The phenomenon of creative maturation means artistic output often increases in quality and significance with age. Furthermore, the artist's work persists indefinitely after physical death, with cave paintings remaining culturally relevant after 17,000 years of continuous exhibition.

The artist operates across an unlimited range of media including painting, sculpture, installation, performance, digital creation, and the increasingly popular medium of having strong opinions about other artists.

Core competencies extend beyond creation to include cultural criticism, emotional processing, historical documentation, political commentary, and the ability to make wealthy collectors feel sophisticated. The artist can produce objects that make people weep, think, reconsider their values, or simply match their sofa. No application provides this functionality. The artist creates meaning itself, a feature unavailable in any app store.

Artistic production maintains presence on every continent including Antarctica, where research stations routinely display artwork to maintain crew psychological stability during polar winters.

Unlike technology products requiring economic infrastructure and electricity, art functions in any environment supporting human habitation. The artist's work transcends linguistic barriers, economic strata, and technological access. The Venus of Willendorf communicated meaning 25,000 years before the invention of WiFi and continues doing so today.

Entry-level original artwork from emerging artists begins at $50-500, offering unlimited viewing duration with no subscription fees, battery requirements, or software updates. A single purchase provides perpetual access without depreciation.

While works from established artists command higher prices, the secondary market demonstrates remarkable appreciation patterns. A Basquiat painting purchased for $19,000 in 1984 sold for $110.5 million in 2017. No iPhone has demonstrated comparable return on investment. The artist's work functions as both cultural object and appreciating asset class.

Artistic production has shaped civilisational development across millennia, from religious iconography that defined spiritual practice to propaganda that toppled governments to contemporary works challenging social assumptions.

Artists have documented history, challenged power, comforted the grieving, and occasionally scandalised the bourgeoisie for their own entertainment. The profession created beauty standards, architectural movements, fashion trends, and the entire concept of the coffee table book. Every human being's visual environment has been shaped by artistic decisions, whether they recognise this influence or not. The artist's social impact is civilisational in scope.