concerning the events of 1/21

The class discussion centered on whether it was okay or not to work in an artist's painting sweat-shop. Surprisingly, several people thought it was a perfectly acceptable route to take. I totally disagree with this. This is not some kind of Shaolin temple, where the sensai gives the pupil seemingly menial tasks, but is in fact training that pupil to be a great karate master. A sweat shop is a sweat shop, no matter whether you are producing sneakers or you are making paintings. While it is true that sculptors often require skilled help to realize their projects, I would like someone to name a single decent painter who had assistants do their work. Rubens often had assistants help him with parts of his paintings, and his paintings suffered greatly for this. The only motive for an artist to have assistants do paintings for them is purely financial.
-JP