Art and Fear

Jim Murray, who teaches the Art in Art Spaces class through the Palos Verdes Art Center, recently mentioned the book Art and Fear. He suggested that we read it, because it deals with a lot of the issues that we discuss in class. I read it many years ago, but I hadn't looked at it since. I took another look at it, and wow! --he's right. This book is right-on in its discussion of what artists go through when creating art. Here are a couple of brief excerpts from the first chapter:

"Making art now means working in the face of uncertainty; it means living with doubt and contradiction, doing something no one much cares whether you do, and for which there may be neither audience nor reward. Making the work you want to make means setting aside these doubts so that you may see clearly what you have done, and thereby see where to go next. Making the work you want to make means finding nourishment within the work itself."

"Art is made by ordinary people. Creatures having only virtues can hardly be imagined making art . . . The flawless creature wouldn't need to make art. And so, ironically, the ideal artist is scarcely a theoretical figure at all. If art is made by ordinary people, then you'd have to allow that the ideal artist would be an ordinary person too, with the whole usual mixed bag of traits that real human beings possess. This is a giant hint about art, because it suggests that our flaws and weaknesses, while often obstacles to our getting work done, are a source of strength as well. Something about making art has to do with overcoming things, giving us a clear opportunity for doing things in ways we have always known we should do them."

I highly recommend this book to all artists.