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You're afrid to be an artist? Perfect...
9 years ago
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You're afraid to be an artist? Perfect, you might actually make something interesting.
And you know what, nothing pisses me off more than people being too daunted to share themselves 'cause they haven't been artists since preschool or whatfuckinever. The truth is, art isn't about artists, it's about putting a microphone in front of something you feel strongly about and recording it so your ideas escape your head before you die like rafts from a sinking ship, because ideas are immortal and you're not so rescue them and they'll prove you existed and hopefully it'll make other people want to do the same thing because everyone is dying and has ideas. And then maybe you'll find yourself developing the strongest possible identity anyone can have in the process, because if I seem like I have confidence it's because I think this is the greatest job in the world. Because it is.
I'm sick of artists and fans who bury people in shop talk and jargon to seem more exclusive like the fucking assholes who turn you off bike riding by dressing up in fucking spandex and making it look like it's harder than it is, and then you're sitting here with fucking great ideas feeling like you can't use them because you don't look like the people on stage and you have no history. Fuck anyone who wants art to be a clubhouse, fuck 'em sideways -- this is the best place in the world and I met my three best friends here and I go to bed happy with a smiley face fucking alarm clock and if you're envious then I promise you fucking should be. You sit in bars and you talk about "Oh, wouldn't it be fun if..." Well yeah, it is fun actually, and I think as artists we undersell how rewarding it surely fucking is to make others feel less alone and have your identity survive in the public consciousness in that process, and there's no human who doesn't deserve that.
Being an artist isn't for special people who all know each other and talk in waves of in-jokes, it's you as an individual honoring your fundamental need for self-expression, and it's wanting to do something that's fucking important and lasting and helps other people get through the night, and it's wanting to have a job you don't ever need to take vacations from, and it's wanting to be fucking buried face down when you die to keep your soul from escaping because you scare the shit out of people but yours is the one grave that people are still leaving flowers on a century later, so if you need the license to believe that your thoughts matter then I'm fucking giving you the license!
And you know what, nothing pisses me off more than people being too daunted to share themselves 'cause they haven't been artists since preschool or whatfuckinever. The truth is, art isn't about artists, it's about putting a microphone in front of something you feel strongly about and recording it so your ideas escape your head before you die like rafts from a sinking ship, because ideas are immortal and you're not so rescue them and they'll prove you existed and hopefully it'll make other people want to do the same thing because everyone is dying and has ideas. And then maybe you'll find yourself developing the strongest possible identity anyone can have in the process, because if I seem like I have confidence it's because I think this is the greatest job in the world. Because it is.
I'm sick of artists and fans who bury people in shop talk and jargon to seem more exclusive like the fucking assholes who turn you off bike riding by dressing up in fucking spandex and making it look like it's harder than it is, and then you're sitting here with fucking great ideas feeling like you can't use them because you don't look like the people on stage and you have no history. Fuck anyone who wants art to be a clubhouse, fuck 'em sideways -- this is the best place in the world and I met my three best friends here and I go to bed happy with a smiley face fucking alarm clock and if you're envious then I promise you fucking should be. You sit in bars and you talk about "Oh, wouldn't it be fun if..." Well yeah, it is fun actually, and I think as artists we undersell how rewarding it surely fucking is to make others feel less alone and have your identity survive in the public consciousness in that process, and there's no human who doesn't deserve that.
Being an artist isn't for special people who all know each other and talk in waves of in-jokes, it's you as an individual honoring your fundamental need for self-expression, and it's wanting to do something that's fucking important and lasting and helps other people get through the night, and it's wanting to have a job you don't ever need to take vacations from, and it's wanting to be fucking buried face down when you die to keep your soul from escaping because you scare the shit out of people but yours is the one grave that people are still leaving flowers on a century later, so if you need the license to believe that your thoughts matter then I'm fucking giving you the license!
BUT, speaking of art...I get that "I miss this" kind of feeling sometimes when I hear the music we used to make. The other day I had my music library on shuffle and it popped up Ambient Meditation. Damn that was good stuff. I can recall how we worked on it to make the pieces fit together. It has been so long since I even opened up a music program. The past few months have not been a happy place at work, and when I get home I just feel like doing (literally) nothing. Gotta find a way to break out of that headspace.
As far as artists go, I have kind of lost touch with the fandom. I have almost no interaction with it anymore.
I think we touched on it a little via other media, but I can definitely relate to getting home and wanting to do nothing. I'm in that same headspace and it sucks. Hang in there...
Take your idea, write it, draw it, sing it, compose it. Post it.
Repeat.
And again.
You can hang out your virtual shingle and earn a little money on the side.
With a basic webcam, you can draw for an audience. People are *interested* in artists doing their work. And if you do a running commentary, so much the better. And someone in that audience may well want to buy what you just did.
That is, of course, one of the success stories. For every one of those, there are countless failures.
I like the idea of broadcasting your art, but that's quite dependent on the media. It works like gangbusters for visual arts (as we all well know). And it works pretty good for music... at least the performance of it. Witness the DJs that live-stream music and a cam. I wonder if people would be as interested in the creation process of music.
But I ask you: who's gonna wanna watch a live-stream of someone writing a story?
I will mention that I know a more pedestrian level of success with a writer. He tried getting publishers to buy book manuscripts, no success there even though one bought a short story he wrote. He then offered his books for sale on Amazon. He makes a decent amount each month, but he works for it; his day job is to write, write, write some more.
Mackey Chandler is the guy, and yeah, this is kind of a plug for his stuff too. That's another part of success-- getting more eyes on your work with the help of others. Networking, word of mouth, advertising.
What happened is that as before, while reading Subnormality, something jumped out at me and I was compelled to share. Of course after transcribing that tirade, I realized it isn't immediately obvious that it's a quote and thought people might push back thinking _I_ had said these things. But... it's not like I don't agree with what's being said.
Also, I dress in spandex when I go riding, but just for the long, like.. 3hr+ rides. There's no payoff for doing that for a ride down to the store.