When reading as a kid, I often would picture the authors writing at their desks, forcing time and energy into this book to get it published, to make money, to make readers happy. I thanked them internally for this work, and also imagined them being satisfied by their money.
But now I am realizing that it is creating that is the real reward. Not the money for the work. I enjoyed the book, but it also was enjoyable for the writer, I think, to make.
Win-Win Dynamic Between the Creator and the Viewer
Art is the one thing that I have yet to see that maintains, keeps alive, the spirit, naturally within us, of win-win dynamics.
We sometimes deem certain social groups as less than because they are not as valuable, or smart, or worthy of our time. We do this subconsciously, which is natural and not our fault. However, we can come to see the world as well as ourselves in a much different, more holistic way, when we engage with different groups of people, learn about their perspectives.
There is no social group, ethnic or racial group that is less than simply because of how they define life or because of how life has defined them.
I was subbing in a classroom the other day and the teacher had a poster in her room that quoted Maya Angelou: “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use it, the more you have,” (byquoteresearch, 2025). I went with my assigned student to their next class, science, where we learned about symbiotic relationships — how a bee gets nutrients from a flower while also pollenating it so that it can reproduce.
Creativity almost acts as this win-win dynamic. Since it is unlimited, the benefits of human connections, too, are unlimited.
Impacts of The Monetization of Art
A lot in our world is defined in binaries – a good and a bad, a positive and a negative. To make money, you have to sacrifice. To gain something, you have to sacrifice something.
The monetization of art is what duped our thinking about it. Making money for your art is what gave us the idea that we create to make money. But, most of us can agree that we would rather make a living doing art. If we have to pay bills anyway, we’d rather write books, sell paintings or make songs than go to the factory or to the office everyday. But when we are forced to rapidly come out with new art, in order to pay the bills when they are due, this is when our natural creative spirit is interrupted. We then associate creating with money. And we cannot force the art to come, it comes when it wants to.
It seems that everything in life is termed as a winner or loser, and that you are born this way, and there is no changing it. In sports, you lose a game or win a game. And a team who loses a lot of games does this not because they may need to switch up positions, coaching style, or implement team bonding, it is because the players themselves, naturally, unchangeably, are bad players.
In the form of human connections, we rank people based on characteristics. Talking at school with someone who is labelled as uncool is considered to deduct points from our social points. We fear being associated with these “uncool” people will in turn make us uncool, and make people not want to talk to us.
We tend to view connections as transactional, as discussed in my post Human Connections Under Capitalism.
Art is a Form of Human Connection
As discussed in these two posts: Where Art’s Beauty Lies and Seeking New Perspectives, art is a form of human connection.
Because art is a form of human connection, it reminds us that connections, in all forms, with all people, no matter who they are, are also a win-win. Because we all inhabit the same social ecosystem (the earth) (our society), we all have something to learn from each other, something to connect with, something to bond over, a new way to see ourselves. There is no negative connection, there is no loss.
In reality, talking to someone labeled as uncool or dumb, or less valuable, is not going to take anything away from you. Because all connections are a win-win. I, for example, had a lot to learn about myself from people that society and the world deemed as less- than.
Conclusion
Just as creators and consumers both benefit from art, humans both benefit from connections. However, we can come to appreciate everyone when we understand how our society has changed how we view art and thus how we view certain social groups.
byquoteresearch, P. (2025, January 24). Quote origin: You can’t use up creativity. the more you use, the more you have. Quote Investigator. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/03/03/creative-maya/
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