hunterwild 12 months ago
No great artist has ever failed to suffer. That's because they're human, and no human has ever failed to suffer.
Here's the real issue. Artists (of all forms) are the ONLY people who's professions are about expression. A logician, fireman, physicist, accountant, etc., has no professional means of expressing joy, grief, ecstasy, angst, wonderment, crisis, or anything else that's important to the human experience and condition. The work of an artist is almost invariably relevant to the life of the artist. A botanist does not research a certain plant because they have it living inside them. So when you look at the work of the artist you are, in some sense, looking at the life of the artist. When you witness a work that identifies suffering, whether by means of trying to destroy the suffering through beauty or express the despair directly, you are probably looking at the same emotional makeup of most people in the world. If a chemist could meaningfully express him/herself through chemistry I'm sure you'd be hearing the same question in chemistry circles, "Do you have to suffer to be a good chemist?"
The fact of the matter is that we all suffer and to varying degrees. You don't hear about the suffering of 99% of artists because its about the same as everyone else. However, you do end up perceiving the suffering of the majority of artists because they express themselves through the very thing that makes them artists. It necessarily goes hand in hand. What doesn't jive is the sense that artists disproportionately suffer. Did Joan Miró suffer more than anyone else who was fleeing the dark tide in Europe during WWII? Did Jackson Pollock suffer any more than your average raging drunk? Did Yoko Ono suffer any more than everyone else who experiences the death of a lover? Your average CEO works between 70 and 90 hours a week; do they suffer more or less for their work than artists (despite the money they presumably get for it, as we all know that money doesn't bring happiness)?
Everybody suffers, but only a few people take the time to express it artistically. The world is full of people suffering, but the world isn't full of artists.
