Recently, I inadvertently ended up in a discussion with a friend about the ebbs and flows of creativity, and how the happenings in our immediate — and greater — environment impact our creative juices.
She then went on to point out how a lot of the great writing, music, poetry, art and other types of creative expression are usually grown out of the creator going through some form of extreme adversity.
Certainly, I would be lying if I claimed that I wasn't familiar with the idea of ”the tormented artist” who creates work of "pure genius" while battling depression and suicidal tendencies… however, I have never found that truth to hold true for myself.
In fact, when I look back across my life, I would say the exact opposite holds true.
The more stress I feel like I'm under, and the more I feel like I'm trying to climb out of a bottomless pit of depression, the more robotic, automaton-like and UNcreative I become.
Most of what I consider my really good work — be that in terms of writing, or other forms of artistic expression — those come as a result of having had the feeling that I could finally afford to just sit down and breathe for a moment.
Maybe I'm just being contrarian here, but it's so often seems like if something generally applies to most people it invariably turns out that it doesn't apply to me. That's not some weird and twisted thing I take pleasure in establishing and waving around like a banner, but a source of some confusion and considerable frustration, at times. I'm really not trying to be ”difficult,” but at the same time I also refuse to not be authentic in my expression.
Stepping aside from generalities for a moment, perhaps this whole debate has a lot to do with our individual personalities.
As I said, I'm not blind to the reality that many ostensibly great works of art were created by artists who were deeply tormented at the time.
But I also look at that reality through the lens of perception that a lot of the art (and writing, and music) that is being characterized as ”so great” tends to be very dark and menacing, even. As somebody who loves art and creativity — and as a consumer of art and creativity — I'm not particularly fond of dark and menacing art. As such, I also have little interest in creating it. I am far more interested in both consuming and expressing the myriad outstanding examples of beauty and light in the world, not its darkness.
To be honest, I get all the daily dose of darkness I need from the media! As such, I'm not also going to seek it out in creative form and surround myself with it in my home.
As it has often been said, beauty — and therewith the beauty of creative expression — is "in the eye of the beholder." And, frankly, this beholder would rather look at the imagery of beautiful landscapes or kittens playing, than somebody suffering and bleeding out in a pool of their own blood.
That's just personal preference, of course. Your results may vary!
Thanks for visiting, and have a great week ahead!
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Created at 2025.01.05 23:28 PST
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