Artistic Innervision
What does it mean to be an artist? We are all aware that everyone has their own opinion on what art is and what it means to be an artist which is why this topic is controversial and difficult to describe. However, if we look a little deeper we will begin to see a commonality in the essence and validation of being an artist. The most common definition and answer people give of an artist is a person who produces paintings or drawings or drawings as a profession or a hobby, but does this mean that to be an artist you have to draw or paint? I think not.
I believe that there are many artists in the world and every person has artistic ability. I cannot exclude any form of art or medium because we as humans view the expression as an art which means that the essence of being is an expression and that is art.
There are many forms of art that go beyond the general understanding of what it means to be an artist. Embodying the artist archetype, we find that it takes us beyond a physical venture like drawing to the mental and spiritual realms and back again. It is a whole being activity that becomes not only who we are but all we are and when you tap into the energy of being an artist you become something altogether different. Your perspective changes and you learn to see with new eyes.
The medium in which we choose becomes irrelevant and mundane in the expression of art because we begin to realize that all we do is art. It is the act of executing the intended expression that becomes the final goal. This could be an eloquently crafted speech, how we decorate our home or the span of how someone has lived their life. If we look deeper into the medium which people choose we see that most of us associate the arts like painting, drawing, music, ballet, dance, acting, etc. There are crafts that are a different expression of artistic skills, and furthermore, we have technical skills. This is all in an effort to define the same expression.
What we need to begin to accept and see is that art is not an act but a mentality. It is the act of embracing the idea that if I am secure enough within myself to put my perspective in the task that I am performing in a way that influences the way others experience what I have done it becomes art. This residue of personal expression is the very existence of being. The true factor here though is when a person does it without seeking validation.
Many of us do our best to be ourselves but daily we make choices in order to fit in or be accepted among our peers. We change our habits, thoughts, dress, and even our bodies to find validation from our peers. Without that validation, we are no one. We float through life wondering why we don’t understand ourselves but yet we do not take the time to discover what makes us who we are.
On the other side of the coin is the individual who creates things to cause disruption in the validation cycle. This person is seeking the same validation but feels rebellion allows them security from criticism within the cycle. Here they can be different but in the act of being different, they are still following. They only oppose what is and in the act of opposing they are following what is.
The true artist does not care what his or her peers believe or what they feel about him/her. The only concern is discovery and mastery. An artist is in search of understanding. The mysteries and beauty of what makes us who we are and the world what it is and in performing this search they only try to replicate it in the medium they understand best. An artist is merely an interpreter. One who studies the great unknown whether that be spiritual, mental, or physical, and attempts to create something to describe it to others.
With this perspective, we must understand that the first step is to seek the understanding of the self, with the intention of aligning the self with something greater so that we can understand what it means to be a part of this creation. Once that is achieved we can experience that energy and see through new eyes. This vision gives us the ability to understand the energies, beings, and material things around us. With this understanding, we are able to recreate what we see and have discovered through our chosen medium. The selection of medium only matters because it is what is comfortable for us and here we begin to create art and become an artist.
Being an artist does not have anything to do with drawing or painting. It is totally reliant upon the inner status. We must find ourselves in the journey of expression and in doing so we begin to express something that matters. To create art, we only need to make something with our hands but to be an artist we must make something with our spirit. In this world, there are many people who walk daily creating from the spirit. I believe it is our job to identify those people and learn from them. Learn how to see the world for what it is and how to see others for what they really are. The purpose of being an artist should be to pass along a message from creation not to follow the current trends and in doing so define a new way of thinking. After all, a true artist changes the world by showing it something it has never seen before, the only way to do that is to turn yourself into a piece of art.
