SM-ART

Over the last seven years the intellect of artists has becoming increasingly apparent to me.  Now let me preface that with "true artists".  I'm talking about people who create from their very core, heart and soul.  True artists create because if they don't they will explode.  Passionate people with messages, muses, inspirations and emotions.  People who have owned the main art they were born with and then went on to find the other mediums they had the talent to work with that also successfully conveyed their thoughts and feelings.

Musicians, chefs and visual artists tend to also be mathematically adept.  Many will also be interested in history but that subject is also common in all art.  Creators, no matter how inspired, will research their subject and use that history to better flesh out their work.  Of course writers and actors possess a passion for language.  Music, acrobatics, dance, architecture and fine arts include a variety of sciences.  So it's pretty safe to say that true artists are pretty nerdy.  In fact if you look back at your K-12 days, the arts kids and the  smart kids tended to all sit together at the lunch table.  In fact a good number of us were both.

"But Kath' what about currently popular musicians or actors who, in interviews, come off sounding dumber than a box of rocks?"  I say, these are not artists.  These are manufactured products of large corporations.  People who have enough knowledge to read words off a page or follow a producer's directions.  Everything else is left to editors and engineers to clean it up for public consumption.  As far as visual art?  Most of what is in the mainstream is the product of a computer with templates and other people's art.  It's slick. It's bright.  But there is not substance or emotion there.  There is no intellect required.  It's just a higher level of "paint by numbers".

Today a friend of a friend posted a link to a Youtube video that really makes the point of this post.  The young man being interviewed has been called a lot of names.  He has been considered "just another stupid rocker boy" and a lot of other things that he even mentions in this interview.  He is a true artist because he's never let any of that stop him from sharing his emotions.  He has tapped into his other talents.  He has braved some really tough times to make art and share it.  He has been rewarded for his efforts.  He's also been blessed with the ability to speak eloquently about his vision and his journey.  Watch and I think you will agree