More Thoughts

I think myself, like many young artists, reach a point where they start to ask, "Wait, why am I doing this again?" Once I filled on the pure enjoyment of the process, I felt empty -- hungry for something else, one might say. It wasn't a desire for enjoyment anymore. It started to become a quest for purpose. It wasn't enough just to create pretty images. I asked the question, "why art?".

I don't think most people take art very seriously, or understand it. It's hard for a non-artist to appreciate what goes into a work of art -- just as a non-engineer cannot comprehend what goes into building a skyscraper. In Kafka's story, nobody understood the art except the artist himself. The Hunger Artist was reduced to a sideshow attraction.



Van Gogh is probably consider the quintessential hunger artist. He got no recognition in his lifetime, yet he surged with a passion for his work.

Art can be especially frustrating because it tends to take a long time. Anything thats worth making will take much thought and effort. It can be even more frustrating when you get no recognition at all. When that happens, the artist feels worthless, and without purpose the artist no longer has passion for his/her art. It dies.

I don't know if It's just me, but I NEED an audience. I create art with much more passion when I know someone else is going to get something out of it, if only a moment of entertainment. I perform better with an audience for the same reason theatrical actors perform more intensely on opening night as opposed to a rehearsal. The same is true in sports if you compare a practice with no audience versus a playoff game in a packed arena.