Prepare For Controversy
It’s been a doozy of a start to the year for the arts. Arts funding is getting cut across the world, with fewer and fewer affordable cities available for them to live and work, much like it is for regular citizens. Pair that with mother nature’s relentless onslaught against us culpable homo sapiens, I worry that we may be reaching the end of times. Well, maybe. I don’t know. Perhaps? Seriously, we’re not reaching the end of times, but we’re definitely coming close to something terrifically unpleasant. And in situations like these, I follow the age-old Godfather advice: I go to the mattresses.
Lately, I’ve heard a few young artists talk about their studies and how so much of art education today is focused around appropriation, representation and other political topics. I asked them when they actually get to make art, and everyone shamefully looked from one to the other. How can one create when the masters, methods and institutions of yore that have preserved unimaginable are being ruthlessly dissected? I certainly learned a great deal from dead writers, even if they were Flannery O’Connor. So, how are these young cats supposed to go forth and conquer when the pedagogy is subliminally telling them not to create?
Which brings me to the creative process, a model that puzzles me. How did someone devise a rigid criteria a la the scientific method, to explain the process of creating? It boggles my mind. To be creative, as far as I see it, is not to entirely follow the prescribed path but to deviate from it. And in deviating to embellish and fantasize. This neat kitten caboodle of preparation, incubation, illumination, etc… of stages seems like a waste of time instructional for someone who wishes they could be a creative, instead of is a creative. You just have to do. Do it and see if it works. Then you look at it again, see if it makes some sort of sense and whether it can be shared. Most importantly, make sure there is meaning to what you’ve made. That it kicks off a conversation between someone’s mind and heart enough to spread a flame of worthwhile discourse.
As I’ve argued the creative process cannot be a manual, I’ll scramble my thesis and add this addendum: at this time in the 21st century, we artists, creatives or whatever, need to prepare for controversy. Artists have been causing trouble since time immemorial. As playful philosophes it’s ingrained in the métier. Yet in the year 2025 and onwards, preparing for the deluge of controversy any given piece we create can stir up is essential. The internet is here to stay, and as such the sea of commentators will be endless. Bob is going to say you’re not honouring Viv’s history, while Sam will say you’ve infringed on their rights. And amongst the screams of ‘it’s grotesque,’ or ‘wholly unappealing,’ listen for: ‘I don’t quite get it, but I feel something,’ or ‘this is the most incredible piece.’ If what you’ve made is righteously offensive, you’ll know and the audience will too and you’ll get the deserved disgusted response. But if you’ve crafted something deftly provocative and engaging, the hubbub will be varied and continuous; you can’t please everyone, though you can move them.
You cease to be true to yourself as a creative when you make something to please the masses. The masses are a fickle bunch, one minute wanting X, the next demanding Z, so create what you want. Art has the incredible ability of fostering hope and right now we need it more than ever. The survival of our species depends on the creation and sharing of art, because without it we are not human. Somehow, we as a species have managed to stick around for thousands of years, a survival we can attribute to our immense creativity. For the artists creating out there, with an incredible piece percolating and spawning in your mind, I urge you to make it. Just do it, don’t think. Yet, prepare yourself. Because other than perseverance and discipline, controversy is salient to an artist’s toolkit.
