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By
Sylvia White One of
the first things most non-artists have a hard time understanding is the
concept of addiction and how it is related to art making. Most
artists I know go through classic symptoms of withdrawal when deprived
of their work environment for too long. They get grouchy, irritable,
may suffer from physical complaints such as headaches, body aches and
often times find themselves depressed for no reason. These
symptoms miraculously disappear when they are given the opportunity to
work again. The primary reason for this is artists are wired
differently than the rest of us. While most of us can get by with the
basic elements of Maslow's theory, food, shelter, etc... artists need
to be able to create as much as they need food or oxygen. It is
so much a part of who they are, that to deprive them of it would be
like asking you or I not to talk, not to eat, not to breathe. They have
been given this gift in the same way we were given blue eyes or brown.
Making art is not an option for them, it is a necessity. Unless
you are asking an art critic or an art historian, most people are not
qualified to comment of the aesthetic value of the work. Galleries
may be able to comment on the marketability of the work, collectors may
be able to say if they like it. But,
mature artists shouldn't pursue seeking an opinion of their work. Your
work is your work, period. Someone will either like it or they won't.
Nothing you say or do can change that. Now,
you may be able to convince someone to buy it, but, in regards to
liking it, it is a primal reflex based on the accumulated history of
that person's visual information and experience. So
what does it really mean when someone doesn't like your work. It means
one person doesn't like your work. That's all it means. It doesn't mean
you are a bad artist or a bad person or should stop making art (as if
that was really an option). In
almost all cases, when an artist asks what you think of their work,
they are asking to connect with that person by sharing an intimate part
of themselves. Realize
that when an artist asks what you think of their work, they hear the
answer as it relates to them, personally. It is a vulnerability that
mature artists struggle hard to overcome. It
wasn't until I really understood the process of making a painting that
I realized how much of the work is in just looking... thinking...
imagining what it would be like to do this or that. Mental
activity that to the lay person looks like relaxation. I could accept
the fact that slathering paint around was work... but, sitting and
staring, that was hard for me. What I came to learn was that the
"looking," is the hardest part. It was
kind of like hearing about the way Mozart wrote music. He wouldn't
write anything down until he could hear it all in his head first, then
he would write it out perfectly in a matter of minutes. In
most cases, regardless of what they do for a living, they are working
on their obsession 24/7. Acknowledging this, can help tremendously in
understanding an important aspect of an artists' character... and
saving a relationship. ~ ~ ~ |
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