(From Matt Kramer)
A commercial world makes creative success much more easily definable. Indeed, the nature of capitalism and marketing seeks to convince us to define ourselves in terms of the creative output of a select group of people, let's call them "the creators" for convenience. For me, creative success derives itself quite naturally from this viewpoint. To be truly successful creatively, I must become a "creator".
Let me explain this in more depth. By creating and sharing my creation with the world, I put a piece of myself into the world ... I define myself in my own terms. My creation, whether it is painting or writing or a well-designed website, is saying to the world, on my behalf, "Look, I made this using the tools and imagination and experience I have. It represents an unrealized idea that was within my mind and is now released because I felt it was missing from the world. It was a part of me, and now it is a part of the world."
So success comes first and foremost from the realization that all of the items that money can buy can't really define you. They can be tools that aid you in achieving success, but they were created by others and can only approximate you. An analogy I thought of was that of using Corel Painter's auto-paint feature. It simulates painting a photograph by applying progressively smaller brush strokes. The problem is that it's never as good as the original, it's always a blurry approximation.
The second aspect of success, in my opinion, arises when someone can take in or absorb the meaning of our work. Without an audience, our creations are just physical (or electronic) manifestations of our defining thoughts. And so creative success is enhanced merely by the sincere feedback from or endorsement by at least one other individual. When this happens, we are understood and we understand ... that our "self" is important and recognized.
In a sense, this is a kind of paradoxical cycle. We create to feel successful and avoid expressing ourselves on the terms of other "creators". We typically charge for our creations because we live in a capitalist society and money is a near-necessity. Then someone buys our commercial creation and uses us as a "creator" to projectively define their character. This gives us a real sense of achievement and urges us to create more and, ironically, moves us further away from an indirect, commercial expression of the self.
AND TWEETS, FROM YESTERDAY...
SrtaMCraftmatic @PeterAtLarge well I really don't think about success,i'm more about happyness and feeling acomplish, success can be as simple as breathing
angusmacphee @PeterAtLarge Success, seeing people reach out side and inside themselves in my classes & my paintings.
angusmacphee @PeterAtLarge Ideally, to get some recognition, selling one's work is worth more than money.
SeverusSumaya @peteratlarge when everyone knows your name for somthing you want to be known for. Money is extra.
@PeterAtLarge being finally known as an artist , make people feel the excitement I feel while painting when they look at a piece of my art
FissionFoto @PeterAtLarge creative success = pushing the envelope + gallery representation, commercial success = selling enough to keep creating
marcjward @PeterAtLarge when you can do something good for someone in the knowing they can never repay you.
@PeterAtLarge That is a good ? For me, success would mean not holding back creatively & breaking thru that fear of not being good enough.
mobymusic @PeterAtLarge peter, this is a very intense question for me. Now at my age, i love doing music, i love the studio.
THANKS TO ALL!
No comments:
Post a Comment