Chapter 2
Art and Fear
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Those who continue to make art are the ones who learned how to not quit.
- Artists quit when
- they convince themselves that their next effort will fail them.
- they lose where their work belongs / lose their destination.
- Artists quit when
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the pen has run dry / artist's block / etc.
- It means it's time to cultivate new ideas, but in artistic death, it means it's the last thing an artist will do.
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Quitting means not starting again, but art is all about starting again.
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Another case: reaching their destination.
- Success turns into depression.
- Don't let you current goal become your only goal.
- Always leave next steps and think about your next destination.
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OPERATING MANUAL FOR NOT QUITTING
- Make friends with others who make art, and share your in-progress work with each other frequently.
- Think of the above as the destination of your work, not MoMA.
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The fear that naturally comes to people who get the sense of self from making art
- I am not up to the task, I can't do it / do it well, can't do it again, I have no talent, I am not a good artist, I have nothing to say.
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These fear has less to do with art itself, it's more about the artist. Even less with each art piece.
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What separates artists from ex-artists is that those who challenge their fears continue, and those who don't, quit.
Vision and Execution
- Vision is always ahead of execution (it should).
- Knowledge of materials is your contact with reality.
- Uncertainty is a virtue.
- When you see that self-doubt is a simple observation of reality, uncertainty becomes an asset.
Imagination
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The artwork's potential is highest on the first brushstroke, and will naturally diminish. Imagination becomes less useful as the skill / craft takes over.
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The development of an imagined piece into an actual piece is a progression of decreasing possibilities.
- Each step reduces the future options.
- When the piece could not be other than it is, it is done.
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The moment of completion is the moment of loss
- of all other forms of that piece that could have been.
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The artist's life is frustrating not because the passage is slow, but because they imagine it to be fast.
Materials
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Without you as an artist participating in turning the potential into reality, the material will stay there indifferently. They will do precisely what you make them to do.
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The painter who stands before an empty canvas must think in terms of paint.
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Knowledge of how the material responses and resists will suggest new ideas to you.
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Art is about carrying things out, and the material is what can be carried out.
Uncertainty
- Other than the material you are using, most if not all other aspects of art is filled with uncertainty.
- You need to give yourself room to respond to this uncertainty authentically.
- Art happens between you and something, and both need to be free to move around.
- Art is risky, subversive, complicated, etc.
- People who need certainty are less likely to make art.
- What an artist needs
- general sense of what they are looking for
- a strategy to find it
- and willing to accept the mistakes and surprises along the way.
- Tolerance to uncertainty is needed.
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