Motivation and Art. Far from being a question of inspiration, most artists strive with motivation. If you are a visual artist how can you run out of ideas? Look around, there are a few million possible solutions to any artistic problem not just one. The problem is often one of deciding, and being faced with all this decision we then begin to doubt, which can be followed by apathy. Thus resulting in "writers block" for the artist. This feeling of apathy and helplessness originates in the fact that we have too many choices, not that there are none. Why should this be a problem? We , well most of those reading this anyway, live in a democracy. We vote for our president or prime minister, choose which flick to see, pick the goods from the shelves in the supermarket. Ever get stuck trying to decide which TV dinner to have? I usually buy them all, thereby circumnavigating that particular problem. But it is difficult to do that when making art. ONE HAS TO DECIDE. I often look back at the old masters with envy. It must have been easy for them. They had one way of painting a theme and usually very few themes to choose from. This was of course not the case, but I like to imagine it was. Apparently Einstein always wore the same suit (he had several sets). Why? So he wouldn't have to strain his brain on useless tasks. And this could possibly be the reason artists tend to stick to one theme, with small variations from picture to picture. Sometimes it really can be a pain in the ass having to be creative all the time. This is an interesting observation. It implies that an artist is only being truly creative the very first time he starts on a new "thing". The rest of his time he is only copying himself, with small variations every time: I'll have the pasta today, tomorrow I'll have the pasta with a dash of parmesan, next day with a tad of pepper, and so on. As artists we tend to say we are working on "a series" or a theme, but the truth is; artists know that if they have to sit down and think..... then they will probably be sitting there for a good while. So are artists who work on a "series" of paintings less creative than artists who do not? Probably. ......Or lazier, its hard to tell. They will, on the other hand, tell you they are researching a theme "in depth". |