Artists work very hard.  Real artists.  Good artists.  As the Wiseman said, “You can only be an artist if it’s the only thing you can be.”  The hope is that the work will matter to someone else who has wealth.  It’s hard to do: art.  Good art.  Really hard.  It takes the focus, attention and effort that is much more than meager work, even typical hard work.  Art is all work … it is hardly a sliver of labor.