The artist needs free time.
”Free time” here means: time away from income-generating activities.
The artist needs free time because not all art is profitable nor should all be.
Consumer culture says to have free time, you must make a lot of money, invest it, then retire.
Free time generated by investments is born out of the labor of others. This is “ethically” problematic and undemocratic since any society can only support a few retirees.
A more humane alternative is to live a cheap life as much as one can.
Consume less → Work less → Free time for art