On Creativity, part 4 - Eyes on the Prize

While we may be attracted to the idea that what is essential for an artist is to have complete freedom, the creative act is actually made possible by working in an environment with explicit constraints. These may include technical aspects, belief in a certain aesthetic, a perceived potential audience, and material resources. Actual and imagined limits like these are real to the artist and will define the environment in which their art is made and, ultimately, the art itself. And, of course, these factors can also be obstacles to finding and expressing a truly beautiful idea.

If our primary goal is to create sublimely artful work, then anything in the artist’s mindset or environment that steers them away from that goal is an obstacle to their artistic success. For the sake of this discussion the theme is, “eyes on the prize.” The prize: authentic, beautiful, timeless human expression.

I’ve known artists of great ability that still feel the need to meet the market. Who can blame them? Almost every studio painter, sculptor, or printmaker who is not independently wealthy will need to have a keen eye on the art market in order to make ends meet.

Most of these creators will admit that, in order to be financially sound, the bulk of their work won’t be what they they would choose to make if they weren’t constrained by market pressures. Their work may start to have the character of ‘variations on a theme.’ The gallery will sell that theme. The buyers will be reassured of the value of that work by a clear statement from the artist of their deep commitment to a personal aesthetic. In my experience that clear artist’s statement will be a conventional amalgamation of popular phrases currently used in the world of selling art. The artist’s eyes are no longer on the prize.

Similarly, if an artist wants to receive a grant to do their art, they would be wise to try to internalize the idea of what currently looks like ‘art’ and what currently sounds like the mindset of an ‘artist’. In academic settings in recent decades art students have been instructed to write artist’s statements that will suitably reflect the socially conscious ‘meaning’ in their work - weather or not the students feel their art is about anything like that. Academic institutions have become responsive to the demand for the financial success of their graduates. But their eyes are not on the prize.

Moreover, most artists appreciate positive feedback. Notoriety is appealing. Flattering potential buyers by producing work they will like will draw them in. We all like to feel like we are connecting, succeeding, and fitting the image of the artist. But this is also not the prize.

Some artists focus on exercising their great technical skills. They may have developed a reputation for performing amazing feats of craft. Patrons will come to expect a product which shows the artist’s signature quality. For the artist this may be their therapy, their obsession, their self-esteem. But technical prowess is not the prize.

From the very first moment we begin to create we are being shaped by the world we live in. However, that world is probably not telling us to keep our eyes on this prize: authentic human expression. 

Next time: The Innovators - those irrepressible souls who couldn’t take their eyes off the prize, despite themselves.