The Vanguard Orchestra

Robbie Hearst is a musician and writer based in Chicago.Do Not Research is a reader-supported arts organization. Since 2021, we highlight the work of a new writer, artist, filmmaker, poster or creative every week.In his influential book, 9.5 Theses on Art and Class, Ben Davis lays out the provocative position that artists (particularly visual artists) are fundamentally ‘middle-class.’ This is not to say that artists can’t be (or often are not) poor; class is distinct from income. Rather than material wealth, it describes the relationship a person has to the means of production. An artist, who decides what she paints and labors on her own, resembles more closely the small business-owner rather than the wage-laborer. If a group of artists, for example, went on strike, the only people they would really hurt would be themselves (and maybe some flummoxed gallerists).This position is provocative because art seems to exist in close proximity to political radicalism. Many artists choose to…