I couldn't help it. When I thought about what I was going to write, this Janis Joplin song popped into my head, so to get it out of the head and into the eyes and ears, I'm sharing the youtube video.
Afterwards, what follows in this post was going to be my one or two line response to my own last post, which you can click HERE to see. But in writing it, other things, important things, I think, came to mind. It got long. Too long to continue as a comment to a post. And it meant something for me to say it, so I cut it from the comment section and pasted it here, into a new blog post. For whatever it's worth. Combined with my last post, it tells a bit more about me, and what goes on inside me when I work, and why. No need to read it if that bores you. No need to agree, or even to form an opinion. It's only me. Raw. So here goes, the video, then the post...
My last post had much to do with art for its own sake, and the concept of jealousy as it relates to art. I know that it sounds so silly at first, to think that jealousy, or lack thereof, can be a defining factor of an artist. But I do think that to a large extent, a jealous sense of competition prevents a creative from being able to detach from the left brain. Not to say that something good can't come from someone who's competitive. The market tells us otherwise. But if an artist creates in that frame of mind, like everything else inside the artist, it will present itself in the work.
This detachment from wondering what others will think is key, I think, to creating from the truly authentic place inside that belongs to the artist alone. It's how babies work, and during and after training, whether self-taught or formally/classically trained, it's what those who find themselves wondering, or worrying about how others may react, must get past. It's what's meant, or what should be intended, when a teacher urges a student to "relax and just play".
The lucky few who don't care and have never cared what others think, can naturally and completely detach the commercial from the creation. I'm one of those who has never cared. I use what others say as opinion and critique, but it neither wounds, nor inflates. I love comments, but I'm not married to them, hence, my blog is not written for anyone's satisfaction but my own. I care about the feelings of others, thus I try to be careful and sensitive, but I leave people with their opinions intact. No manipulation. Stating my opinions, I try to be clear and direct, and often do so emphatically, which is sometimes interpreted as trying to persuade. But when I choose to state my beliefs, I do it, then I leave others to their own. I do sell my artwork, but I let my stuff represent itself. If someone wants it, fine. If they don't, then I'm not going to try a different marketing technique, tactic, or try to convince.
For me personally, it's all about the creation, and everything else is peripheral. I am the kind who would have to leave the business end to an agent, manager, or other professional, if it came down to marketing. I can mix business and art, but I can't create with marketing in mind. It isn't about whether or not I believe it's right or wrong; I simply can't. I can put my art for sale, but not manage the convincing of people to buy it. They buy, or they don't buy. So my livelihood must come from somewhere else, unless my art supports itself with its own message. I'm not trying to find a market niche. Very un-American business thinking perhaps, but I truly believe that art is not merely at the top of the food chain, it's above it. I'm not saying that my particular art is anywhere at all, in any hierarchy, but that art itself, is sovereign. My art is simply what I create. Where it ends up in the minds, hearts and pocketbooks of others, is in the realm of their choices, and their choices won't change how I create, because I can't create that way. I can make crafts that way, but that isn't how I can create artwork, which I equate with soul work -- laying the soul bare.
So, absent the jealousy and positioning of competition, I'm free to decide what I like, and throw away what I don't, given the set of artistic guidelines -- or lack thereof -- that I choose to adhere to at the moment, for the piece at hand. Then when it's created, I let my artchild stand on it's own legs, and let the rest of the world think what it will. When I'm stumbling over my own critique of my work, I sometimes ask others who are emotionally detached from it, and in my opinion are competent artists in their own right, for advice. I don't think of my work as "good" or "bad". I think of it as "from me", and "on it's own". I'm not worried about my progress, because I'm in it for the creating, not the improving. Don't get me wrong. I want to improve, and need to improve. I seriously, playfully, learn new things, but I don't strive to improve. I'm not creating for the sake of technical improvement, I'm creating to create. And in doing that, I will improve. It follows naturally and can't be helped. The more you do with focus, but without stress, strife, or resistance, the better you get. That's all, really.
The psychology is really very simple. What an artist creates is always a self portrait in some way or other. What other's see in it, is also a self-portrait, but not of the artist. What others see in any work of art, is a portrait of themselves, as reflected in their reactions to the observed artwork. This is the communication and the dialogue that interests me. When someone of knowledge says something about the execution of a technique, that's an art lesson. When anyone voices an honest reaction to the work itself and says something of what it evokes, that's a revelation of the beholder's identity, not a statement about the piece of art. The piece of art is merely a vehicle for the conversation, not something good or something bad in and of itself.
More simply put, artist lays soul bare. Honest commenter bares soul in commenting. Personally, I find this to be one of the most sincere and rewarding conversations available to mankind. And because this is where I begin and end, competition and jealousy are not factors. It never was about the actual piece of art to begin with. It's always about the creating, and then progresses to a dialogue in the relationship of artist, creation, and beholder.
