Is A Round Of Applause & A Cheque Selling Out?

For A Round Of Applause & A Cheque

I'm in my car, or I'm on the bus, or I'm in work or whatever and I have a conversation.

I experience something in my normal everyday and I think; there's a story in that.

I sit here at my machine every day. The time changes, sometimes it's morning, sometimes it's evening, no matter. Most of the time I don't know what I'll write

Then I think, what did I see today, what did I get? What was I given that I should share before I let it away?

And then, like now, I begin to write. Whatever comes it doesn't matter, I trust it.

Ray Bradbury talks about the sports person, the painter, the writer, doing the work day in day out, incessantly until it brings expertise.

We could make 100 things, file 100 tax returns, sweep 100 streets, paint 100 pictures and find praise and admiration for only 2.

Is it worth it?

You better believe it's worth it.

For why else would we create something if it wasn't for it to be loved by someone?

Not For The Love Of Applause

Now, that might seem to run counter to what The Artist's Manifesto tells you. But it doesn't.

Let me explain.

For anything to exist in the universe there must be a consciousness to perceive it.

If you had no eyes to see the sun wouldn't shine, and a face wouldn't smile. They might for others, but for you they wouldn't.

If there were no ears to hear there would be no sound, there would be no words or song.

That matters because it is only through our conscious perception, our translation of energy in the environment via our vastly complex nervous system, do we experience.

And likewise, if you had no audience, no concert goers to hear your music, no lover of art to admire your paintings then there would be no art.

Do you see?

It's the creator, the created and the admirer in cahoots. They are all required – it's triad of things complicit in the existence of the thing.

So you see a round of applause is necessary, and you'd better get used to it. Love it when you get it, but don't chase it or it will run away.

Remember when you were chasing someone you fancied and they ignored you?

The Job Of The Creative Is To Create

My sister said to me at the weekend, “do you think you might be turning people off who are not artists?”

My answer of course was, no.

I see everyone in the world as creative, we are all that. Now that's not some idealistic bullshit I'm spewing here, it's the truth.

Whether you see yourself as creative or not is irrelevant – you are creative and you have the potential to make stuff that matters.

The challenge then is to connect to that place within that allows creativity free expression.

This message that I've named The Artist's Manifesto is for everyone, when and where they are ready to find it.

It will build momentum as people discover and share it.

Some people won't get it, some people will, some people will scoff at it as idealistic and impractical and that's all fine.

The message is the message and it's right for you if you can hear it.

Yes, there will be marketing if that's what you want to call it. There will be promotion and sharing of the message, but that's what's required in order to spread it.

The job of the creative is to create from a true and honest place, uncontrived, without the need to coax a response from anyone.

Make it, make it real and then share it.

Fuck the consequences.

So What's Next?

Many creative people have a hang up about getting their material out there. They think receiving a round of applause is selling out to the man.

Forget that nonsense.

Do you want to experience the joy of seeing a smile on someone's face for the love of something you created?

Or even a round of applause, and a cheque from a whole bunch of people?

Or would you prefer to die and leave it all after you undiscovered?

Maybe a small cheque is ok?

C'mon for Christ's sake!

Would you really deny people the experience of loving something you made because of your fear of selling out?

The reason artwork from the likes of Vincent Van Gogh and Emily Dickinson didn't get to see the light of day until after they died is because they had a hang up.

They kept their work hidden, for whatever reason. And the world didn't get to experience it until they were out of the way.

I don't know about you, but if I was that good I'd want the experience of sharing what I made with others.

That forms part of the making and I don't see why we should wait, and be broke as a pie crust in the process.

Art is supposed to be shared.

So start making shit for the sake of it… and get out of your own way.