A Thought On Discomfort and Movement
Art can’t be created in comfort.* Art is made in times of strife, of loss, of longing, of pain. Artists are the ones who buck the system, the ones who say that there must be another way beyond the 8-5, beyond the cubicle, beyond what society expects of us. Art is not created by obedient drones. Art is created by misfits who never sit still.
This isn’t to say that you should revel in strife. There are those who love to tell their friends about how much they’ve suffered to get where they are, but I say the more you wallow in your hardship, the more hardship will fall upon you. Don’t wade in your self-pity. Just keep moving. If you’re in a creative swamp, the only way to get out is to move. You might be more comfortable standing in that murky water, but don’t tell me that you can’t get out. It might be a long hard slog to get your boots out of the mud, and your feel will get blisters, and you’ll be tired and thirsty and sore… but you’ll have at least fought your way out of the swamp.
*And after a thoughtful comment from Christina of Sihaya Designs, I think what I really meant is “safety”. Art isn’t ever a safe venture. But I do believe that discomfort and strife make good art, even the art that is rooted in happy times – because how can celebrate our happiness through art without having first traveled through the awful times?
WORD.
To preface: I agree very much with your second paragraph. It is good advice to the creatively stuck.
That said, I very much disagree with your first paragraph. Yes, SOME art is borne of discomfort, of pain, of loss. Some very good art. But just as much art is borne of comfort, of gratitude, of contentedness and completion. I consider myself an artist in more than one medium, and some of my best work comes when I am focused, relaxed, and happy. I’m sure that the same can be said of many artists, both contemporary and throughout history. Yes, art always involves stretching, searching, reaching- finding expressive ways to convey our personal experiences– both extraordinary and mundane. But sometimes it also involves happiness. To say that art can’t be created in comfort, and to link it inextricably to strife is just inaccurate.
Christina – I totally get what you’re saying. I think there’s a fine line we need to tread between being happy and being stagnant. I know that for me, without my uncomfortable experiences, I wouldn’t be able to express through my art the happy ones. And I think what I mean by “comfort” is maybe really “safety”. Any time we make anything, it’s not ever really “safe” – someone else could criticize it, copy it, or in some way demean it. Maybe that’s really what I was getting at…?
Art is an organizing principle, and is born out of chaos. I don’t think that mood has anything to do with it. If you are in a “creative swamp”, maybe what you are experiencing is resistance to doing your art.
As far as “8 to 5″, Wallace Stevens was an insurance executive and Stevie Smith worked in for a hardware company. They were both great poets. Let’s not fall into a trap here of thinking that being a “misfit” has anything to do with creating art.
Back to add one of my favorite art quotes of all time, by Rainer Maria Rilke: ““Surely all art is the result of one’s having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, where no one can go any further”
That, I totally understand.