Is making art selfish?
I want to give a fair warning; this topic fires me up, and I call bullshit on anyone who categorizes all artists as selfish. There, I said it, now I'll tell you why.
If you google this question, the answers are varied and pretty dramatic. Looking at the results, I thought, are there really that many people who think being an artist is self-serving or selfish, and why? Why are there so many articles written by artists who agree that artists are selfish?
My hot take: Equating an artist's self-awareness with self-absorption is categorically inaccurate, and many artists don't understand the damage they are doing by reinforcing this pervasive stereotype.
Yes, many of us often care about what goes on in our heads more than what happens in "real life."
Yes, we often look at what could be more than what is.
Yes, we can be fascinated with how we perceive the world because we feel our view is different.
Yes, some of us recognize our contributions as a gift.
Yes, many of us embrace the dark side of our brain instead of shame ourselves for it.
Yes, we often can connect dots that other people can't.
Yes, indeed, many of us don't accept things as they are.
BUT, so do a lot of engineers, doctors, lawyers, therapists, teachers, firefighters, nurses, caretakers, etc...the list goes on.
My question is, why do artists get called out for it?
Because what we do is primarily dependent on our self-awareness, which dramatically differentiates our job from other (non-creative) jobs.
Because many of us have done a lot of work around our mental health, so we aren't afraid to talk about it. Let me be clear; mental illness is neither necessary nor sufficient for creativity. The historically romanticized image of the tortured artist is incredibly toxic! However, being an artist is 10x harder if you aren't fully present. Being aware(and treating) of our mental health is an essential aspect of our creative practice and is part of making our art better. Self-discovery is part of most artists’ process.
Creativity is an aspect of identity development. Artistic self-expression contributes to maintaining or reconstructing a positive identity and improved skills. To practice visual art in any form is often to express who you are without words. That shit's hard!
But, because of these things — not despite them — we can change the world(okay, that might be a wee bit of self-adoration, but not unjustified). These reasons are not a complete list; however, the answers significantly differentiate what artists do from other jobs and have been used to diminish art as a credible career.
One huge reason art is not valued is that it has been viewed as not accessible to all. It is treated not as a part of life but as a non-essential feature of life, reserved for the few but not for everyone. Art can and should be for everyone. By disparaging the artist's identity, we are not valuing artists; therefore, we devalue art.
I will be bold and say I think creativity has been historically undervalued because it has the power to overthrow. It is thus seen as a threat and hence vehemently discouraged. Do I believe this is still the case? Yes—and no, but I think we have a long road to go.
My conclusions:
MAKING ART IS NOT SELFISH
BEING AN ARTIST DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE SELF-ABSORBED
VALUING YOUR ARTISTIC TALENTS DOESN'T MAKE YOU SELF-SERVING
SELF-AWARENESS IS NOT THE SAME THING AS SELF-ABSORPTION
