Live Like an Artist – We Work in the Dark
After a very long NY Day post, I’ll follow up with a quick read for this one. I feel like I’ve lived a few lives in the last couple of weeks thanks to the news cycle.
And we’ve been doing “this” for so long that any of us who live like artists are done with making a case for beauty, for art, for literature, for all of those creative endeavours that enrich the lives of us all. We just know. Art helps, art is needed, art is necessary. Art is non-negotiable if we’re to get through.
So today, I’m sharing the words of Henry James:
“We work in the dark — we do what we can — we give what we have. Our doubt is our own passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.”
Still life is the art of doing what you can with what you’ve got. Still life is the art of rearranging until there is some sense in the chaos. Still life is watching the flowers die and seeing that they are the stars of the show until the very end.
And yes, we’re all always working in the dark. We never know quite what will happen next. Still life reminds us to stay. Breathe. Attend. What can we do with what we’ve got? Try. Go down trying to make something beautiful. Don’t give up. Don’t stop.
Maybe we’re all saying the same things these days, but it doesn’t hurt to say the same things in different configurations.
Get weirder, be messy, and go deeper, and wilder. Be free with your words and your thoughts and think into the beyond.
In my NY post, I mentioned a book that I love and that I’m so grateful I read as my first book this year. The Art of Resonance by Anne Bogart is already a life changer for me. And you can read about it in my previous post but I’ll quote one more little bit from it. She talks about experiencing a work of art that has “something about it that is slightly ‘wrong.’” She says that “the resonance of the work is increased by its inherent dissonance.” She says, “present-day software engineers use the term, “worse is better” meaning that the quality does not necessarily increase with functionality and that there is a point where less functionality (“worse”) is a preferable option in terms of practicality and usability.” She talks about how auto-tune ruins music, and we might think of the warmth of an LP rather than Spotify.
I’ve been thinking about the off-kilter, the weird, and about leaving in the messy background. I’ve been thinking about how to make this next year as authentic and true as possible. Especially since we’ll be living in such a climate of lies.
Pay attention to those places in art that are slightly “wrong.” It’s a message from the artist about what is real. That’s where the light gets in.
January 10, 2025
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