I worked at the formal market, but today I pursue inspiration and completeness through art

Leaving the formal market and rediscovering art

After 15 years of a beautiful career in law, the artist abandoned the formal market and all the facilities that this “status” provided her. A good pay, a socially valued profession, a partnership at the dreams office, big clients.

In an ideal world, as soon as a cycle is coming to an end, another is already being prepared, safely and quietly, so that a transitional moment between the two cycles is possible.. But not always (or almost never) real life equals theory. “I didn’t see the signs, so i failed, I drove badly, I suffered immensely with the end, I really experienced grief”. And the healing process for her, at this moment, was went back to paint, still not realizing the bigger movement that was happening.

The power of art that was asleep

From a very early age, the artist demonstrated this profile, that was encouraged by the family, since there were notebooks and more sketchbooks and an endless number of colored pencils, paints and everything else that could be used to express what, until recently, it seemed to be just a hobby, although it has always been very promising.

At the 9 wish of being a fashion stylist and created entire collections (of very dubious sketches, if we take into account the trends of the years 80). At the 10 painted the first oil canvas. At the 12 she customized her own clothes with themes from the bands she liked and at the 16 created unique pieces to get away from what everyone wore.

However, what is the most common (and we are talking about almost 20 years ago), when choosing a college and a profession, ended up follow to the conventional flow, after all, “no one lives from art” (really?).

She studied law, she ended up falling in love with the profession and discovering new talents there., Thar whas what kept her for a long time as a lawyer.

What happens to people who have this artistic bias, whether in the visual arts, in music, on literature, is that, sooner or later, will hear the “call”. It is not possible to ignore a vocation for life.

And so, at that moment when she saw in art a vanishing point for her transition, what was shelved and hidden somewhere there came out in full force, as if to say “it will be impossible to ignore me now”.

Simone Michielin, profession: a artist

The works appeared naturally and quickly. “I didn’t know if I still knew how to paint, but it was like I never stopped, as if the day before I had brushes in hand and smeared with paint…I saw how I missed that smell and that mess”.

Soon, the artist had enough collection to make a solo exhibit. But then another question arises: to what point your artistic production, so far seen and well accepted only by close people, could actually be on the market? At what point is the artist ready to show himself and face an independent assessment of this market?

So, after 3 months of production I did the first solo exhibition, after 5 months I did the first “Casa Cor”, with 7 months I did the first exhibition in Italy…and at that first year, were 16 exhibitions, between individual and collective.

After these first contacts with the market, and subjected to the specialized looks of experienced curators, understood that yes, your great passion could become a profession, a main activity, after all…who said you can’t live from art?

From that point forward, at any hotel check-in or online registration, became Simone Michielin, a artist.

Live from art – the necessary adjustments to transform a hobby into a profession

Even when everything seems naturally on track (destiny?), to turn a dream into reality it is still necessary to roll up our sleeves and look for some alternatives.

The difference between art as a hobby and art as an exclusive activity and source of income requires adaptations.

The first challenge was to create a new network, until then was just lawyers, but now I needed to introduce Simone as an artist, to an environment where it was totally unknown.

Some other adjectives were then needed.: fearless, audacious , marketer and entrepreneur!

By “knocking on the door” of the architects who would make the Casa Cor SC of 2015 and had no idea who Simone Michielin was in the “bakery line” (brazilian expression “fila do pão”), saw a grate acceptance of her work and achieved 7 works in 4 different environments at that same edition (here again the “distracted we will win” because until someone tell her that that was a beautiful brand, I had no idea, I just thought it was good).

When she travel the streets of Florence, with 5 works under the arm, to submit them for evaluation by the curator of an international exhibition, that would bring together artists from 8 countries, (and instead of the 3 that would be the limit per artist she exposed all the 5 paintings), she understood the long evaluation of the curatorship, which highlighted the strengths of her work and encouraged her to continue with her artistic production.

Just as she understood the value of her work, also understood that the moment called for a more contemporary performance, even to give vent to hyperactive creativity, that doesn’t seem to have latency moments.

So emerged other products, other platforms, another own brand and a open studio to the public, that at any time you can find the artist in full production!

New channels for art

The paint, in its purest form, remains the main reason for the artist’s work., where your expression manifests, where ideas are born.

It all starts with a drawing, a painting, to later be unfolded and, so, reach different audiences, by applying your creations to secondary products (sketchbooks, pictures, ceramics, Tshirts, and what else comes up). Thereby, the artist allows herself to play with her gift and the very concept of “pop art”, creating accessible alternatives for those who want this contact with art but still do not reach an original and exclusive work.

And it was precisely her particular taste for pop culture that inspired the creation of a second brand, the FaberWHO?, in which she creates objects of iconic movie characters, music, comics, TV series, a kind of collectible toy art.

The creation of these offshoots did not exclude exclusive and original productions, both independent and on demand, which in this case allow a fun co-participation of customers, either in the theme or in the choice of color palette, creating the experience of, although indirectly, have also been the creator of that custom artwork!

Maybe it’s exactly this uneasiness that doesn’t make her afraid of changes… and so she faced yet another: in 2020 she moved to Italy, starting over from the beginning, once again.

It would be hard not to be an artist!

Live from art requires some concessions and letting go of certain certainties and overcoming some beliefs, it also can be a little painful. We’ve always learned that success and earnings must come from hard work., sweaty, often suffered…how then to believe that all this can be achieved with something that is fluid, natural, pleasant? With something that doesn’t disturb your Sunday due to its proximity to Monday? With something that doesn’t make you live in apnea waiting for the weekend for the short breath before the next apnea?

This paradox perhaps populates the minds of many who read the text at this time, “but if you have something that makes you really vibrate, that makes you “hungry for life”, that shows you it can somehow positively impact someone… Do it, and do whatever has to be done to make it sustainable, so it can be your reality and you no longer need to turn away from your natural path”.

It’s very common for her to still hear “it must be hard to live from art”, like that maxim from the past…but for someone who has it in their soul, which has this as an indestructible internal movement… “it would be difficult not to be!”