Art and Resilience: The Artist's Survival in the Spanish Art Market - Analysis from a Global Survey

Abstract

Abstract This article aims to diagnose certain characteristics of the resilient personality in the Spanish artists who developed their artistic careers in the years before the economic crisis that began in 2008 and who have suffered the resulting loss in their activity and their economy. Along with sources of positive psychology that analyze resilience as an individual's personal and social ability to effectively overcome situations of crisis, this paper is based on the research developed by the authors in recent years from data provided by more than 1,100 visual and plastic artists in Spain, a wide survey about the economic situation of this sector nowadays and the evolution since the beginning of the economic crisis. It also seeks to determine whether there is a resilient artist profile who, through personal, social and professional tools, has reoriented his career and maintains his artistic activity as the main source of income. The methodology used allows determining not only what characteristics of the resilient personality may be detected in this group of artists, but also which tools they use to survive the crisis in the current art market.