Pain & Suffering: do we need it to create great art? Part 2
July 24, 2007
This article is part 2 and follows on from Joel Falconer’s original where he finished off with this…
“So long as the traditional industry (and society) can point to the popularly propagated idea that ‘artists must suffer’ they have a reason to keep us in the dark, abuse us, rape us of our rights and suck us dry of every dollar, every word, every melody and every stroke of the brush that lies within us. Stop this myth now. Artists do not need to suffer to produce great work.
If you really believe “Artists need to suffer for their art” is a true and valid concept worthy of merit then next time you’re at the sex shop or visiting the CIA’s secret torture bases, pick up some whips and other instruments of torture, perhaps a waterboard and a set of fingernail pullers and bring them home to work over your local writers group, the garage band down the road who so obviously need help, and the painter whose delicate hands just beg for some knuckle crushing and thumb screwing and make them suffer, because the resultant works they produce will be guaranteed hits, oh, yeah. Success is just a whipping away. And of course, it’s firmly known by women and children everywhere that emotional and intellectual abuse makes them better people.
Women’s shelters and homes can certainly attest to these most efficacious methods of human improvement through suffering. So dig the psychobarbs deep into the soul of the very next artist you come across. Give them hope and make all the promises and agreements and offer them the platitudes of profit so that you may then betray them. Shatter their dreams, burn and trash their work, rip them off and betray them. Yes, this will work. It’s completely and utterly justified by that old adage “Artists need to suffer for their work.”
Bollocks!
This is the 21st Century, and such thinking is no longer a part of human existence or creative endeavor.
Creative Artists need help to realize the promise that their work and their gifts offer humanity. To help them is one of the greatest ways to help humanity, for the flowering of creative works signals the growth of the human spirit, the flourish of national and international economies, and that celebrates the greatness of becoming a fully realized human being. The works of great artists are not the product of their suffering, the gift was already present. Those who persecute songwriters, composers, fine artists, poets, storytellers, and others are depriving humanity of the best and greatest it is capable of producing. The works of great artists are the product of theirwillingness to step outside the fabric of society, to stand on its edge, supported but safe,where they can look into the darkness of the unknown, imagine what is coming, while they hold fast to the realities of the past and present, and service all time, past, present and future. Great works of art & entertainment, like any other great works of invention, are the fruit of observation, consideration, deliberation and a passion for understanding that surpasses the norm of its day.
The glory of being human, and the greatness of human civilizations is fully realized in the works of great artists and those works can and do inspire us to be the best that we can be. No civilization worthy of the description can be a civilization, in fact, if it enages in the persecution of those whose insight and ability to reveal our human condition to us, inspire solutions, and celebrate our very lives in song, in oil, watercolor, image and word are persecuted while they are in its care.
This is not to say that constructive, useful and meaningful criticism of the works of creative individuals is not to be enaged upon, but there is a right way to go about this that preserves human dignity while maintaining integrity. No suffering involved.
[Editor's note: NDK has recently written a series of articles expanding on each point of the Code of a Creative Artist and covers some effective ways of constructively critiquing while drawing a comparison with destructive methods]
Those who have helped creative individuals realize their dreams have always been rewarded and recognized in the end. So have those who persecuted, though never kindly. The next time someone tells you that “Artists need to suffer for their art” you send them this article and have them read it. Or read it to them. And mark well who they are.
Email this article to a friend - or a nemesis, it doesn't bother us.
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Your article seems to be (my interpretation anyhow) about an industry affecting and manipulating the way society perceives ‘works of art & entertainment’ along with the many other forms of media out there.
I don’t agree that an artist needs to experience difficulties in life or with the creation of their work in order to enhance it, that’s a stupid notion.
But some art, mainly in regards to music, can have a significant impact on a person as there are often strong emotions expressed from the artist. This is often an expression of the artists’ life experiences and personal views, further increasing the profoundness an artist can have on an audience.
In conclusion…
An artist will more then likely impact on an audience and send a message, that message should be a positive one as there is no need to drag society down, what does that achieve for anyone?
For care for your fellow being,
Less greed.
That is my two cents anyhow, a good read NDK.
Hi Michael, thank you for your comment. No, the article is not specifically about the industry of art & entertainment. It’s about an idea that has been prevalent in the industry and our society for some time, and that we need to put into a proper perspective, because it offers a justification for for some pretty unconscionable behavior. This occurs in the industry of art & entertainment and in society at large.
You introduce an interesting aspect relevant to this topic though, and that is the life experience of an artist, and the expression of that experience through their art which the article touches on. Experience can be direct (first hand/personal) or indirect (second or third or…etc.-hand/impersonal to one degree and another). But artists have imagination, in quantities (if it is possible to quantify such a notion) beyond the pale. Many also have or develop strong empathic abilities which they utilize and bring to the fore to infuse into the works of art & entertainment they create. Joel Falconer’s tuneback “My Dying Mistress” is, I believe, such an example. Is it great? It really depends on one’s viewpoint, and the ability of an individual to experience a range of aesthetic appreciation (about which more at a much later date), as separate from technical appreciation. Personally, I think it’s a pretty amazing piece of work to write and deliver a song like My Dying Mistress, and I know something of what it took for Joel to sing this song and how he felt about it afterwards. I also know that songs like this, that convey such sincerity of emotion and experience work, to touch an audience, and that this strikes a chord of commonality in our human existence that helps us all to deal with the experience of living life. There is something to be said for authentic experience, but imagined experience, fully realizes and conveys an experience that one may never have, and that is where this particular notion, “artists must suffer for their art” or “suffer to create great art” falls down. Thanks for offering me the opportunity to expand upon this concept.
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