25 Artists and Their Day Jobs Before Making It Big

They paid the price to make it.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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There is no one way to become an artist. If there was, achieving it would mean something much different than it does in today's culture. Some of your favorite artists truly started at the bottom (no shots at Drake), whether they drove taxis, were cooks, or were museum guards. Some dabbled in modeling, and others had day jobs that helped their eventual practice, such as furniture construction and layout making. In all cases, the journeys are interesting and admirable. See what we mean with these 25 Artists and Their Day Jobs Before Making it Big, and realize that it's a long yet rewarding ride to the top of the art game.

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Todd James (REAS)

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David Choe

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Ron English

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Ellen Von Unwerth

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Brian Donnelly (KAWS)

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Fred Wilson

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Matthew Barney

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Tom Sachs

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Mark Rothko

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Wade Guyton

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Yayoi Kusama

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Andy Warhol

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Paul Gauguin

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Jackson Pollock

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Ed Ruscha

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Richard Artschwager

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Mickalene Thomas

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Jasper Johns

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Keith Haring

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Julian Schnabel

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Phillip Glass

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Jeff Koons

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Barbara Kruger

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Ai Weiwei

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Shepard Fairey

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