Application As Artwork: GenderFail’s Working Class Guide to Making a Living Off Self Publishing Vol.2

Application as the artwork is the first in a series of works exploring the creative potential and the horrible realities of the application process.  The publication is centered on the core question of: Dear Artist, how much time did you spend last year on applications? I hope it’s as much as you did on your artwork. From the opening essay: “The application circuit in the art world feels like playing the lottery. Within my practice, I have all but given up on applications. It doesn’t sit well with me spending hours upon hours in the off off off chance of getting funding when thousands of other people are doing the same thing. Instead, I focus on using whatever resources I have to make and publish my work. Spending time creating new work to sell instead of wasting time on applications is always a safer bet. I find applications a racket that would ruin my ability to be an artist in the way I have taught myself how to be.” The foundation of Application as Artwork is centered around my submitted application to The Printer Matter Publisher Work Grant. The grant states that it “acknowledges [es] awardees’ accomplishments in past work and provid[es] the capacity-building funds to enable future book projects and publisher sustainability.” This is the first grant I have applied to in almost 10 years of running GenderFail. By publishing my application as a fine art publication, I am nearly ensuring that my countless hours of work on this application result in some funding for purchasing this publication. In addition, 25% of the proceeds from this book will be donated to other publishers whose work grants were rejected by The Printer Matter Publisher. I also want to add that the grant winners have not been announced since this post was published.  While working on this grant, I realized that the application was mainly asking questions that might be useful to other working-class publishers, artists, and writers trying desperately to make a living in our hellish capitalist nightmare. This publication is also a follow-up to Publishing Now: GenderFail’s Working Class Guide to Making a Living off Self Publishing. All books have a free copy of our Imperfect Publishing: 10 Years of Putting Everything I Have into GenderFail—10 Years 6-page Broadsheet. Application as Artwork:  By Be Oakley 72 pages 1st Edition of 400 Risograph printed: Red, Black, Blue, and Flat Gold October 2024