We Shouldn't Cure Our Artists

[karadinart]

I saw this in a friend's blog today, and I just ... artists and writers and actors, dancers, jewelers, crafters, shipbuilders, I could go on, are not creatures touched by the divine hand of god. We are people just like anyone else.

How can you say, 'every artist I've ever known is fucked up in some way' and think, oh people need TO SUFFER FOR THEIR ART, that's BULLSHIT.

Artists are those people who were lucky enough to discover that thing that engaged them and they keep at it, the majority of artist are hobbyists, some strive to make their living, and as in all things, luck and talent can get you to stratospheric heights. Some people are lucky to be encouraged in their endeavors.

I think particularly of all the people in my family who have talent at drawing, my little sister, who can draw, but she always compared herself to me and said, oh, well You Get To Be The Artist in the family, (as if you only get a quota of one)

I guess what I'm saying is, everyone is an artist at something, there is something everyone can do better than most, a perfect parallel park can be a thing of beauty. But, whatever you do, you have to be willing to devote hours of time to it, to get good at anything, an artist may have some innate abilities, but it's not a god given gift, its WORK.

An artist is also compelled, painting that yellow chair for the 234 time, and people might not get it, but that's not the point, you do it because you need to, it can be your own therapy. And speaking of therapy, if a medication, or treatment makes you less stressed, and allows you to cope - and make better work - that can't be a bad thing, you can't cure the artistic impulse, thank god.

*post edit*
I keep getting this response that artists are 'wired differently' that something makes them different from the 'general population' whatever that is, and that is patently not true.

Do you tell the quilter that she has to 'be crazy and fucked up' to create? No, but then that's also a social/cultural hierarchy of what makes craft and what makes art.

I was told in youth I had the hands of a pianist, I can sight read music, I have a good ear, I would like to have studied piano, but in the end, it did not compel me as much as writing and drawing. How many of us would be musicians, artists, writers, but we didn't want to put in the time and application of our talents? You have to want to spend hours learning and perfecting a craft, thats as much or more of being an artist than your hard wiring.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

If I had time I could rant at length, but I don't, so I will simply agree with you so, so much.

And I know, as an artist, I do better at making art when I'm dealing with my illnesses.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

It kind of leads to the whole trend these days of 'let me diagnose your problems for you, so that we all seem to be walking balls of neurosis,

[ashura-oh.livejournal.com]

Art is 1% talent and 99% practise. Of course, where the motivation for that much practise comes from is another question, but people also wonder where my motivation to learn a new language almost every year comes from. Why, I don't have anything better to do. And they don't let me learn computer fun alongside Japanese.

Anyways, it's true that depression, as it creates the urge to improve, to make something better, and if it is one's state of mind, is a trigger to become creative, and that many artists are prone to depressions, as are academics, and so on. It's also been proven that the brain of an artist is closer to that of a schizophrenic than that of a person who doesn't engage in anything creative. But in my humble opinion that's a matter of practise, not because we get born the next Picasso or something like that.

No artist gets born the way they are later. We don't get born equal, sure, but saying "oh, I'm not talented, I don't even try" and "you're an artist, so you're automatically crazy" - yeah, right. I don't even grace that with a reply.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

I don't think depression creates a need to improve or make something better, it creates self-doubt and ennui, which is the opposite of what you need to make things, I use my art to surpress/overcome depression!

Brains do grow and change over time, certain areas can become larger, I think they would have to study someone from childhood to adulthood to make true comparisons of one brain vs another.

[irisangel.livejournal.com]

This outlook might be due to the tendency to glorify an artist's suffering. "Oh Person A was a total trainwreck, but look at what he created from it! He's a tortured genius, so let's try to turn him into a martyr for his art!" People seem to like that sort of thing.

But for the sake of keeping any potential tangents short, I'll just say that I agree with you.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

Yup.

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

I have had quite a few people tell me, "But you are too normal to be an artist." XD

Like you say, artists are people like anybody else. We have families, raise kids, pay the bills, etc. But I suppose the tortured, mentally unhinged artist starving in some attic studio looks much more glamorous in movies.

Too bad about your sister not pursuing drawing. I am the least talented artist in the family, but I still tried!

[autumnatmidnite.livejournal.com]

To everything you said, may I give an emphatic reply of THIS!!!!!

It's the depression that robs me of creativity and any ability to write. The more it spirals unchecked, the less likely I am to be able to do anything creative. My writing and hobbies are what help me through the rough spots AFTER I've sought medication for my bipolar disorder. I am one of those who believes a certain degree of depression or eccentricity go hand in hand with the artistic temperament but NEVER that mental health problems should be allowed to reign unchecked for art's sake. That actually pisses me off, because do that, and all you'll have is a dead artist, given enough time >:|

Also; I found you on the SH friending meme and decided to pop by your journal and read through your very tantalizing looking fics :) Might I friend you?

[karadin.livejournal.com]

Yes thank you!

[kayay.livejournal.com]

I don't think one has to suffer to be an artist (and writers), but it does seem those pursuing creative paths deal with a lot of crap. It may have to do with trying to make a living in a field that others often view as less serious or done "for the love of it rather than the money", as if artists aren't interested in earning a decent living too.

However, maybe artists perpetuate the stereotype. It's the more crazy, eccentric and "fucked up" that get noticed by the media, so, after a while, even the artists (usually the younger crowd imo) start to believe and emulate it.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

You might be right about artists using the crazy to their advantage, but there is a difference between mental illness and eccentricity, and for someone to say, we shouldn't help people with mental illness because we lose all our artists that way is fucked up.

[kayay.livejournal.com]

"...we shouldn't help people with mental illness because we lose all our artists..."

*shakes head* All I'd have to say to him/her is "O'rly?"