Art, Criticism & Life

This is something I wrote a long time ago that I came across today. I added a few things to it and fleshed it out more. I thought it was poignant and should be shared again.

As an artist (Whether your creative outlet is music, writing, film, painting, drawing, digital design or any of the other various forms) the thought of putting your art out there for others to see can be a bit daunting. The fear of rejection and criticism can be overwhelming and cause you to doubt yourself and what you have created. It has happened to me personally on many occasions throughout my life. A few times it caused me to stop pursuing something I loved for a long period of time. Luckily I’m a glutton for punishment I guess.

People will say, “Well if you doubt yourself, why do you put it out there to be judged or let others opinions change how you feel about it?” I don’t feel it’s as simple as just that. When you pour hours of time, energy and creativity into something you think is great it’s a huge sting when someone hates on it. That is your baby, your creation. I don't care if you're Metallica or Bob the school teacher down the street who likes to paint pictures of flowers in his spare time. To have someone put down your creativity hurts whether we admit it or not.

As I've gotten older and experienced putting out various forms of art to the public. I have come to really appreciate and respect the creation process and passion that goes into making art. I may not always like something or think it’s good, but I do have respect for those who put their passions on their sleeves and bare it for the world to see. It also makes me think long and hard before I trash something verbally or with the written word. I think too many people jump to bashing something without giving thought to the whole process that went into creating that particular thing. When you’re sitting behind a keyboard, the knee-jerk reaction often gets said before you really think about what you’re saying.

I guess I'm in the mindset if you don't have anything nice to say, why say anything at all. I'd rather see constructive criticism on why it wasn't liked rather than, "Man this sucks," comments. I think that criticism is often 75% taste, 25% truth. That may not always be the case, but a majority of the time I think that could be construed as being accurate. I’m just as guilty of doing this as anyone, but I have been making an honest effort to not do it. It feels like we live in a world of constant negative feedback, maybe it’s time to change that person by person moment by moment. I get the fact that criticism also helps us grow, so I think finding a happy medium balance doing it is key.

Maybe instead of, “Hey Jim, your band is awful; you suck horribly and make cats go into heat when you play.” You could say, “Hey Jim. I see you guys are working hard on your music. I think there is something there, just needs to be fleshed out a bit more.” If you’ve got knowledge of the particular subject give constructive advice, knowing very well that Jim and his buddies have been working hard, but also need some pointers to help themselves improve at their craft.

There will always be examples of people who constantly got rejected, put down, told they sucked and never gave up, who kept working at what they were doing and improved. But I ask you this, how many Stephen Kings, John Carpenters, Morgan Freemans or the like have given up because of a constant barrage of negativity? Who knows how much great art we as a society have missed out on because little Johnny constantly got told he sucked at drawing when he was a kid? He could have been the next Picasso, but no we had to tell him that his drawings looked like something that had been mashed on the highway by a semi-trick and he might as well give up. The fact that we may have missed out on just one of those people makes us less-the-richer as a society. The joy it could have brought to so many snuffed out by a few assholes who were mad because they didn't have the guts to follow their own artistic pursuits. Who were probably also told something similar to what they said to little Johnny at some point in their lives.

My final thought on the whole thing. We as humans, whether we realize it or not find it easier to put things down, or dislike something without giving it a fair shot than looking at it from a broader perspective. It’s a natural instinct. We all want to be good at what we do and we sometimes feel threatened when we see someone doing better than us, or making progress doing something they love. Especially if it is not our cup of tea. We react; we make disparaging remarks and instantly go into guard mode. The next time you find yourself in that situation, take a breath, step back, and think about what you should say, what you want to say and why you are saying it. How would you feel if that was you? Are we better off to just walk away the bigger person? I realize the world we live in isn’t all sunshine, rainbows, moonbeams and stardust, but why add seed to the ever growing mountain of negativity that is life? Maybe I'm just an overly optimistic snowflake who doesn't get it, but why contribute discord and hate over something as beautiful and subjective as art? Isn’t there enough of that in the world already?

What does everyone else think about this?

#Life #Criticism #Art #Music #Writing #Painting #creativity #Thoughts