John T


I dunno, I guess I'm just a simple country boy who doesn't understand all this fancy talk or something. But it feels like a very little is being stretched a long way here.
       

John T


I dunno, I guess I'm just a simple country boy who doesn't understand all this fancy talk or something. But it feels like a very little is being stretched a long way here.
 
I'd like to quibble with this particular point:

 
Starise


It is not pleasant for someone who denies a deity to admit that he/she/them is all that's left. The denial in a true higher power is admission that dependence on ourselves is all thats left,and this is depressing given the true nature of mankind. History proves that we are not really getting any better. We are what we are.

I don't beleive in a higher power, and I don't find that remotely depressing. Indeed, quite the opposite.

UbiquitousBubba


I've known a number of artists in my time.  I've been accused of being one myself on occasion. 

Some of the ones I've known have been Tortured Artists.  They hurt and they wanted everyone to know and feel their pain.  It consumed them to the point that there was very little left of the person they once were.  It was as if they had no identity apart from their pain.

I've known others who suffered, but were not destroyed.  Their artistry explored some of their pain, but also their joy as well.  They had perspective on both beauty and agony.

Unfortunately, some of the Tortured Artists seem to suffer agony that is self-inflicted for the sake of soliciting pity, empathy, negative feedback...  They tend to be self-destructive, but not in a quiet, lonely sort of way.  Their acts of self-immolation must be huge, exaggerated monstrosities designed in excrutiating detail to try to force us all to join them in their pain. 

Sometimes, they just need a time-out to gain some perspective and maturity.

Having been told to go sit in the corner myself, I can appreciate the value of having someone you know well tell you "Get over it!"  Everyone experiences pain.  Everyone feels loss.  It's not the pain that defines us as artists (or Artists if we're snobby), it's our reaction to it.

John T


Last night I watched 'DiG!' which is a documentary movie following two bands who started out as friends, the Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre. I'm not a fan of either band, but it's a fascinating film. In particular, Anton Newcombe, the main man from BJM, is a brilliant example of the worst kind of I'M AN ARTIST AND NOBODY UNDERSTANDS ME jerk-off you could hope to find. An utterly talentless, violent, nasty piece of work with a massive ego and nothing to back it up with, constantly sabotaging himself and everyone around him. It's really worth a watch. A better guide to how not to be creative you could not find. 

Mesh

John T


Last night I watched 'DiG!' which is a documentary movie following two bands who started out as friends, the Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre. I'm not a fan of either band, but it's a fascinating film. In particular, Anton Newcombe, the main man from BJM, is a brilliant example of the worst kind of I'M AN ARTIST AND NOBODY UNDERSTANDS ME jerk-off you could hope to find. An utterly talentless, violent, nasty piece of work with a massive ego and nothing to back it up with, constantly sabotaging himself and everyone around him. It's really worth a watch. A better guide to how not to be creative you could not find. 

With a description like that, I'm not sure I"d want to subject myself to this. I'd prefer to watch HGTV.........there, they give some positive tips on remodelling your home. 

John T


I dunno, I guess I'm just a simple country boy who doesn't understand all this fancy talk or something. But it feels like a very little is being stretched a long way here.
 
I'd like to quibble with this particular point:

 
Starise


It is not pleasant for someone who denies a deity to admit that he/she/them is all that's left. The denial in a true higher power is admission that dependence on ourselves is all thats left,and this is depressing given the true nature of mankind. History proves that we are not really getting any better. We are what we are.

I don't beleive in a higher power, and I don't find that remotely depressing. Indeed, quite the opposite.

drewfx1

mike_mccue

Sophisticated art aficionados understand that the artist as hero myth is a construct, based wholly on society's greater interest in heroes. 

Remind me again... WTF is a <red flag>" Sophisticated "</red flag> art aficionado?