All tagged Creating Art For Yourself
There’s a passage in Ayn Rand’s book, The Fountainhead, where the central character, Howard Roark, lays out his personal rules for Architecture. He says:
"Here are my rules: what can be done with one substance must never be done with another. No two materials are alike. No two sites on earth are alike.
I was going to start this post with a comment about how crazy and unprecedented 2020 was, but then I realized that a) it would be cliched, b) I’ve already made that point in numerous posts over the last year and, c) it would be cliched.
Instead, I’m going to focus this post on two things - the things I’m proud I’ve been able to do on this blog over the last twelve months and then share a bit of my mindset for the coming twelve.
This month's podcasts delve into the seeds of entrepreneurship, where these crazy ideas come from and what they mean for us, as entrepreneurs.
In today's episode, I reflect on article I read about Lauryn Hill and the importance of creating art for yourself and not for anyone else. This is true of all truly great creators - not simply in the Arts but in business as well.
What it boils down to is this: there’s a legitimate fear that if we actually make something, we’ll have to face the true state of our skills and accept how much improvement we still have ahead of us” Chase Jarvis - Creative Calling
This is the hard part about creating - particularly for the very first time, when we’re trying something brand new.
For most of us, when we’re growing up, we’re exposed to plenty of structure. From our family rules to our religion to our social and community expectations, we’re guided (explicitly or implicitly) by defined sets of rules that tell us what to do, how to behave and even how to think.
I remember watching an interview many years ago with Kevin Cronin, lead singer and one of the main creative forces behind R.E.O. Speedwagon. He was talking about his creative process behind their hit “Can’t Fight This Feeling” and how, as a creation of his, it was one that was very difficult for him to let go of.
This is freedom. This is love for what you do. This is where your work is your art.
Thom Yorke’s performance is open and honest. He’s immersed in his art, his work. He’s not afraid of being vulnerable.
So, as anyone who follows English football knows, my team, Arsenal, is going through a pretty bad patch right now. There are a host of contributing factors to this, which I won't get into, but they've all culminated in a lack of belief within the team when they're on the field.
Talib Kweli Greene wrote an article recently on Medium called In Defense of Ms. Hill. The article is, as the title suggests, about Lauryn Hill, who first rose to fame with The Fugees, and specifically about what rights and expectations we can have of her as as an artist.
