This is an interesting glimpse at the master painting in his garden: An Artist Empowered by Eden Maxwell, avaialable as an e-book on Amazon.com For every artist the questions will arise at some point. The questions that go to the heart of the artist's sense of self and meaning. The questions that will challenge the ego in its most primitive form. The questions are: 1) Why am I an artist? 2) Where does my art come from? 3) What is the intrinsic value of my art? The artist may be able to answer these questions. When or how such answers will come is unknown. When they are truthfully answered the artist may find fulfilment. Eden Maxwell is a profound thinker and artist. He has also written an astonishing book.There is no point in denying that The Artist Empowered is a singular achievement. A giant work that will take time to read and digest, but will leave you better for it. Maxwell has had a long career and has seen that world from it cruelest to his enlightened present. He has experienced corporate America and rejected it. He seems to have made peace with his calling to create art. Yet there is no arrogance about Maxwell. He shines light on questions we need to answer for ourselves and he is not judgmental in his writing. A central theme in his work is how an artist will have to deal with rejection, the opinions of others and our view of ourselves as artists. He rejects the idea of the starving artist as no more than social conditioning. An artist can live a good and honest life like anyone else. Genius is dedication - remain true to yourself and follow your calling in whatever way makes sense to you. I spent a considerable time completing this book. It is substantial, but compelling too. I found that I had to put the book down often to make notes or simply to think about what the author had said. So much rang true - how fear is a part of our ego and that all great art is self-taught since nobody can teach you to be original. Follow your intuition not your ego. Your intuition is always positive, but your ego can destroy you. If you are interested in the artist's calling and are seeking a path to find meaning then this book may hold the answer. "How do you know if you are meant to be an artist? If someone can talk you out of being an artist then don't be an artist." To listen to a recording of an interview with Eden Maxwell where he explains his ideas follow this link. We grown ups are a funny lot. How often do we use words to convince ourselves that we cannot or should not do something? Plenty of times. We think we are wise too, becasue we have watertight rationalisations to back up these self-limiting ideas. At least that is what we tell ourselves. Eventually, if we repeat them often enough, we beleive them to be true. So much so that we will get into a heated argument defending our decisions not to pursue a venture. We will seek out others to back up our viewpoint and give examples too. That's too bad.
Since this blog is about art (mostly) lets look at the creative world. Children do not limit themselves - at least not until the adults have passed on their "wisdom". Children are born creative. They love to make their mark and delight in their spontaneous creativity. Some may like it so much that they keep on at it. Others my prefer some other form of expression and who knows where that may lead. The point though is that we all have a creative nature. Everything in the world is directed to create in one form or another. The statement in the title is correct. The real question is what do you decide to do. If you went through your youth doodling at every opportunity (you should see my school books!) or could put a poem together and sing it beautifully or pehaps your essays always received a gold star. These will point to your passion. That which you choose to do to make yourself feel energised and happy. It should be easy to choose these activities. Problem#1 Cue those self-defeating words and advice! Problem #2 You can be good at other things too. This is usually your safe career or job. The one you do to pay the bills and make others relieved that you are not challenging the status quo. This makes living your passion seem unattainable. (Notice I said living, not following). What if you choose your passion? What if it is possible to succeed at your dream career? Is it too late? At an educated guess I believe that a vast amount of artists started out in a regular job. Certainly I have met very few who have not. The child stars are few and usually appear on TV then disppear just as quickly. Those that make a proper go of it long term usually follow another road. A long road of self-discovery and hard work. I would say that there are three things a successful artist does: 1) produce quality work 2) in sufficient quantity 3) and persists in doing so But then again success is just an opinion is it not? The decision is all important. Do you decide to be an artist or not? If so then live and think like one. Keep your day job, but do the work before and after your regular job. Weekends? pursue your art. If you can make the sacrifice in time and energy then you will be in the game. Participating rather than standing on the sidelines wondering if you could hack it. It does not matter if you are not represented by the best gallery or making big bucks. Those are yardsticks imposed by others not you the artist. The artist does the work. It starts with a decision that only you can make. I am happy to announce that one of my paintings donated to the Treasure the Karoo Action Group has been purchased by Mrs A Gravett of East London. The proceeds from the sale of the painting (R1500.00) will be donated to the TKAG. Please support them in their efforts to keep the Karoo free from fracking. There is one painting left, Karoo Windmill. If you are interested in the painting please contact me. |
AuthorMalcolm Dewey: Artist. Country: South Africa Archives
March 2024
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