The Artist: An Original Essay

Life rises from the organic with a force for novelty. A slow accumulation, a culmination that will never end. No one escapes this but there are some who feel it in varying degrees more. They are the ones who help bring this force to the forefront. They are the tail of the fractal making it visible. They bring this ineffable thing into our consciousness with a great ripple effect, still fractal in nature, which spins off into ever greater shows of complexity. It is a vast spectrum which all art occupies and could be so large as to encompass the entire universe, that is, depending on your views of the limits of consciousness and the roles of potential creators. However, that is a discussion for another time. What concerns us here is part of the human domain. Currently, these lines continue to be blurred but I hold steadfast in my belief of the value of organic human life and its potential to create. Ever since man began to use tools we have been confronted by art. In modern times, it is common to have a rather simplistic view of art. It is something found in a museum, a special room at school, maybe a theater, within an object, potentially on the radio, in a book or in the unique design of a building. It is not always simple to put your finger on. Not all forms can be felt. At least not physically, but all seem to impress something on your psyche. Some more than others, of course. I contend that art pervades the mundane. Everything human-made has it as if it exists within these creations as a color. A color that can relatively appear brighter or softer depending on the observer. Art is as relative as speed. There is something deeply human that gets placed into any form of art. In modern times, the origin may deceive us, but the truth will always alter perceptions.

There are those who know they make art and then there is everyone else. Let us know art as broad and wide. However, in this piece, special attention needs to be placed upon the artist. Camus wrote “whatever may be the chosen point of view of an artist, one principle remains common to creators: stylization, which supposes the simultaneous existence of reality and of the mind which gives reality its form. Through style, the creative reconstructs the world and always with same slight distortion which is the mark of both art and protest.” Artists reconstruct the world and in doing so project what they think it should be through their art. If done authentically, it is a world they themselves should desire to exist. There should be no alternative. The reality is, there are many artists all protesting at once, competing for attention. Competing for their restructured world to be accepted. For them to find a home with this accepted image of their restructured world. The artist must not forget this, they must not forget what they are doing and who they are truly competing for: Themselves. However, this is not a selfish act. I attest that it is far from that. On the contrary, I would argue that it’s selfless in the way that generating your own authentic art for the world to the greatest extent of your abilities while disregarding your ego choosing instead to rather accept your unique place in society at the present time. Yes, exercising the compounded version of your life’s experience only for the potential approvement of your fellow man. It is impossible to know what will resonate and what will not. There is skill, relevance and luck but they are already factored in. The grand scheme accounts for all.

This is what we must confront, my fellow artists. There may be some method, style of the times, or strategy to become noticed but ultimately what correctly strums the chords of hearts or activates the mind cannot be foretold. The artist can only fulfill their vision to the fullest and acknowledge the rest is out of their control. But, what does that mean for the current situation? Indeed, it confirms that among the current generation of veneered artists that there were many more at the generation’s start. It is reality that the majority of whom have disappeared from the public space. An occurrence that has been fact since the dawn of time. A select few survive the trials brought on by the world and accept the rite of passage into the public eye. I dare not call it luck, it is something a bit more complicated and intricate than that. Imagine a box that’s filled with small balls with two equally small holes cut randomly into its sides. The box is shaken in a randomly chaotic way that sends a few balls flying out in the external space. The trajectory of each and every ball is their art; their path is beautifully sculpted by their desire to restructure their world – the one where they fly out of the box. They all complete their trajectory and their bounces are aligned with their vision of what their world should be which inevitably leads some to fly out of the box and others to bounce around the inside in perpetuity. Should a yellow ball want to be a red ball because it saw a red ball fly out of the box? Any observer would criticize the absurdity of such a question. Should that yellow ball be disappointed? However, given that we have complex emotional structures and are not different colored balls inside a box, it’s a struggle not to feel disappointed and upset. If we need to find solace, perhaps we can turn to the myth of Sisyphus, as Camus did. The artist especially must smile through their trajectory while embracing the repetition of creating. Perhaps they can find enjoyment in the pattern their tracks make up the mountain on each journey upward. They must complete their arc as beautifully and perfectly as they can, as is possible by their abilities. You see, the holes in the box are as unknown as the shakes. The holes could change position and deliver fortune to any individual participant. It’s the participation that is essential.

The artist then must bring to life that image within themselves. Each has one more unique than snowflakes, encompassing a multitude of forms. It incorporates all potential, embodies all experience. It is an irrational math problem with the sum total being higher than the initial parts. It defies logic. The artist carves their path in line with this image. There is no use carving the path to someone else’s image as it is not one’s own. A select few will turn into roads that allow the human spirit to move forward, that keeps the universal consciousness engaged. Therefore, it is important that the artist creates as they are themselves. On a personal level, this means that I create exactly how I see fit. That I should put words where they feel balanced to the greatest extent. That I must trust in my own vision.

But how does feedback and critique fit into this idea? The answer is that they fit carefully and oftentimes not at all. Critiques might be totally disregarded unless there is a pivotal awakening in the artist which opens a new perception that had never been considered before. That pivotal awakening must be discerned from within the artist themselves and be equated to a rebirth that would be akin to seeing color for the first time. However, if the artist feels that critiques go against their affirmed visions, they must be respectfully considered, declined and put to the side. One must be careful not to let their craft become sculpted beyond their own recognition or to be suddenly creating things for anyone other than themselves, though commissioned works certainly may fall under a different context here it still should be presumed the artist is completing the work in line with their artistic vision. It comes with a great deal of self-awareness and self-honesty to adhere to the artist’s will and to only accept authentic influence. This is a journey the artist undertakes with themselves as their only true companion by being in touch with a divine force that flows from within to the external world through the artist’s own hands. This flow becomes more powerful as the artist continues to stay in touch with it and as the artist tunes in to the unknown origin of this flow, they weaken the barriers that prevent it from rushing out. This is the exercise of the artist, a weakening of the blockage that sits in front of the, dare we say, divine inspiration within all of us. Terence Mckenna once posed a question along the lines of: If we take an art museum, what is the most obvious question of all? That would be, where did it all come from? In his opinion, it was a teacup of the vast ocean that we all have access to. That is, as conscious beings in this universe.

Recently, I was surprised to find something which applies to the notions I have been discussing regarding the artist in a lecture on Nietzsche given by Michael Sugrue. He stated a line, or idea, on a crucial pillar of Nietzsche’s thought which boiled down to “be a man and follow me not. I found my path, go find yours” which, after all we have discussed, should resonate quite well with the artist in the context of this essay. Live out your own trajectory by bringing it to life and perhaps you will truly find yourself out of the box.