Art And Suffering

[Guest Mount Bananas]

@Joseph Maynor

Damn. What you're saying seems to be true. I can feel that I want to make an excuse for feeling miserable, so that I can later say that "it was for my art".

I definitely have had a lot of problems before, including introversion and shyness. I have suffered from not being able to express myself, or not having the balls to do it. I want to use music as a channel to express what I feel, to make other people feel, I want them to feel my call, my yearning to be great. I want people to listen to my work, and to have a transcendent experience. To feel love, to let their emotions flow. And when my music ends, I want them to ask themselves "What the fuck am I doing? I need to stop being so petty because it's causing me to miss this beauty around me"  

What do you think? Is this call noble enough?  

[Scholar]

I would say the greatest requirement for becoming an "artist" is to simply love making art, in whatever form it is. If you like to draw, you simply draw. If you like to make music, you simply make music. The goal is secondary, even if it can be a primary motivator.

If you won't enjoy creating music, or drawing, or writing books, then you will have a very hard time doing so. And on the other hand, if you enjoy creating music, or drawing or writing books, you will do it anyways, no matter if you achieve a goal or not.

 

Maybe you are looking for an identity, which if you follow the path Leo has laid out for us, you will some day come to realize that it is a rather less desirable thing to strife for. 

But you have to know that most artists didn't become great because they wanted to become "artists", they became great because they loved what they did, because they were talented and/or because they were at the right place at the right time. Many of them, sadly, turn their art into an identity once they become successful, and as we know, that road is filled with unnecessary suffering.

[Ayilton]

On 12/25/2017 at 6:18 PM, Mount Bananas said:

Do you guys think that a musician should just be empathetic and be able to put himself in other people's shoes, or in other words, to be able to observe an emotion and express it, without having to necessarily feel it? I hope this makes sense.

It makes sense  ....my opinion is yes  , musicians are very good at expressing emotions in a detached way  !  They are good actors 

 

[St Clair]

I discovered a link between the life I live and the art that I create, after contemplating the tunes I wrote and the corresponding time of my life. I concluded that if I, say, continue to do adventurous missions such as epic hikes into the mountains and the bush, then the music I write will reflect that. This reflection effect also seems to happen with big life events. For example with the passing of my dog recently, out pops a song that captures her life so accurately, and the meaning it had to me. I didn't sit down and try to compose a song. It just came. That's pure inspiration.

I think these artists you mention are drawing their inspiration from these tragic or unfortunate life events. But that's what seems to fill their cup. If they fill their cup with fruitful experiences, then perhaps their art might reflect that. And then everybody can have a sip.

 

[TimStr]

Quote

Is suffering really necessary. Yes and no. If you had not suffered as you have, there 
would be no depths to you as a human being–no  humility, no compassion. You 
would not be listening to this now. Suffering cracks open the shell of ego. And then 
comes a point where it has served its purpose. 
 
Suffering is necessary until you realize that it is unnecessary. 

- Eckhard Tolle

I think suffering is one of the forces, that pushes us towards growth. But I think there are other forces, like compassion and pure joy, that can do so as well. Compassion is the desire for the end of suffering, so it's sort of the other side of the coin.

I think the one thing, that keeps you from making great art is complacency and avoiding suffering. If your art is not meaningful enough to you that you would go through hell for it, it's probably not very meaningful to others. But I wouldn't assume that torturing ourselves automatically produces great art. 

[star ark]

We all suffer, most people cover it up, those that wear there hearts and worries on their sleeve are plain as day to regular people - we stand out.

True artists display and examine their suffering which is why it becomes such compelling art. They usually analyse their suffering which is quite often a symptom of the human condition, and everyone understands the human condition. Others view the artist who bears their soul as courageous but stupid, don't reveal a weakness when enemies lurk everywhere. Protect yourself and your financial security by playing the game etc

All my old mates love to catch up with me and have a fun artistic night away from the wives, I'm their crazy trippy muso friend, and they think I'm borderline insane. They all look 10 years older than me, have weird aches and pains, view every meal as a reward for working sensible jobs, most of them are overweight rich tradesmen who lift heavy stuff all day but are somehow so out of shape with ruined backs and sleeping schedules that look toxic. etc

I see their life as suffering, they see my life as suffering.

 

[Guest Mount Bananas]

@star ark

Brilliant

[Guest Annetta]

I think that great art comes from trying to get to know yourself and being able to express this is very important.  The more you know yourself the more you can connect with others to the human experience-  or the divine experience if you are able to.  

I feel that suffering can help make art great, but being enmeshed in suffering makes it hard to create art in general, but the urge to express one's self accurately can push an artist to better themselves sometimes.

[Dsteller]

@Annetta I completely agree. As a musician, I can completely agree to the idea that I definitely have used music as a medium of figuring myself out. In the process of doing so, I get to share my human experience of figuring myself out with others. This very action creates a relationship with listeners that makes things very personal (something that I strive to do with my process so much to the extent that I post voice memos of me creating the song before the song is finished to have the listener know EXACTLY what was going through my head when I was writing the song.)

To suffer is to figure yourself out in a convoluted and beautiful way. Art is the medium people share their progress but suffering isn't the only way to figure oneself out.

[Soulbass]

I went through a "tortured artist" phase few years ago, it helped with inspiration for sure.

Then I dropped my personnal drama because it was not nessessary.

I play with emotions, to set myself into a mood or something, but I don't identify with them.

 

What if everything we do (including art) is mostly influenced by external things ? (non-physical energies).

I've heard from somebody enlightened that these forces express themselves through us.

If free will there is, I wanna fight for my choices (purposes & art).

I'd rather prefer to visit higher places, than melancholia, torment, agony... we'r just a visitor.

 

Egon Schiele & mandala destruction :

 

 

Edited January 1, 2018 by Soulbass

[mk0998]

 

[SOUL]

What do you mean by "great"? Art is a subjective appreciation so what one adores another ignores and being an artist is just as much of a subjective creative expression.

You may want to self examine for the reason you attached that qualifier to it, it may have a deeper context. Are you trying to validate yourself through your art and how it is received or do you just have joy and fulfillment in creatively expressing yourself regardless of the reaction to your art?

Passion can be a powerful inspiration for art but "suffering" isn't the only form of emotion that can be inspirational, you may find as you evolve there are a wide range of emotions that can inspire you.

Edited January 1, 2018 by SOUL