What is an artist? Really, where is the line between a regular person and an “artist”?
As strange as it may sound, Eugene actually has a point in the above comic. Hobbyists are common, but true artists are rare. A hobbyist is someone who enjoys some sort of activity but only when it’s convenient; as long as it doesn’t get in the way of work and life. For an artist, work, and life are things that have to find a place around the art nucleus.
If you are an artist, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you’re not an artist, that’s fine. Most folks aren’t. And, strangely, some people get offended when they’re told they’re not an artist. They may have bought into the “everyone’s an artist in their own way” nonsense.
Ironically, genuine artists don’t get offended when they’re told they are not true artists. Believe me, they tell themselves that ALL THE TIME! It’s a constant barrage of self-doubt upon the realization that their work isn’t up to their own standards or, even worse, that the market doesn’t value their work. That’s why artists continue to work and expand their artwork. It’s exhausting, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Are artists born or made? While I don’t agree with the above sentiment about everyone being an artist, I do agree with the idea of the quote by Pablo Picasso: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
There is an evergreen sense of youth to artists, even when they’re old and even if they’re grouchy. They’re like big kids who still want to sing, play, dance, paint, or dream. They drive people crazy with their seeming detachment from the “real world.”
The secret is, for the artist, the “real world” is fake and true reality is that dance of creativity and beauty beneath it all. To the artist, art is life. I’ll end with another quote, this one by George Bernard Shaw: “Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.”
Jason Salas, Creative 