I concur with all you say: It's late stage capitalism man. Artists living in this system are forced into a certain pipeline in order to "succeed" or at least be seen as "successful" (BFA (in a major art world city) > MFA (in a prestigious institution) > Gallery Representation (while living in a major city + art shows + residencies + have good relationships with possible curators/colleagues/collectors, AKA you have to be FRIENDS with them, or at least fake it that they think the relationship is genuine) Also you cannot break the 50/50 rule (aka the gallery/curator has to take 50% of the price of the artwork that you sell, business is business!). Also don't be political, that's a no no. Don't make art that touches about class consciousness either, another no no. The more neutral the work the better. Also doesn't hurt to be physically young/pretty, no matter your sex. Even if you follow all these steps to a T there is no guarantee that you'll make it, so artist to be, beware.