Every time I hear the story of Jesus talking to the Pharisees about giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar*, I remember a conversation that I had a long time ago. I had been out of work for about a year and had just recently found a part-time position that paid a bit more than minimum wage. While I had sold a few paintings over the years, there was little interest in my art outside of my immediate friends and family, and I was lucky if my income from art-making was enough to pay for brushes and paint. Like most artists, my primary “patron” was my spouse, who had a regular, full-time job that provided just enough for us to live frugally within our means.
One day, a conversation at a gallery opening turned to money, as is often the case among struggling artists. One person, who was fairly successful at getting commissions for making large artworks for public places and also had a well-paying full-time job, began to complain, saying “My income from art-making doesn’t do me any good. It just puts me into such a high bracket that all of it goes to paying taxes.” As I recall, everyone else was too shocked at our colleague’s ingratitude for their financial well-being to say anything at all. After all, we were all so chronically broke that we were grateful when we had enough income to be required to give anything at all to Caesar.
