One of my friends, a really good font-artist, was telling me about her desire to learn charcoal painting. I asked her if she preferred portraits over natural scenery. She thought for a few seconds and replied that she had never really tried drawing human faces. She then quickly added that she liked drawing birds. I told her mockingly that I had asked her only about portraits. She angrily retorted asking me why I felt that a bird's face and its expressions should not be treated as a portrait. I did not have an answer. "Birds are better than humans in many ways" she enlightened me. I nodded with a smile.
I thought about this conversation later that day and I was amazed. I had never really tried to think of a bird's picture as a portrait. "Could a person, other than an artist, have come up with such a thought?" I asked myself. The response was negative.
I continued thinking about artists. My thoughts slowly intertwined with thoughts on love and life. And the more I thought, the clearer it became - Artists are the best/worst possible romantic partners.
****
Artists are the most easily excitable of the lot.
A sprightly butterfly, a silvery crescent moon, a half constructed brick wall, an iron chain tied to an elephant's leg in a temple, a silent stretch of desert, a dewdrop hanging for its life from a blade of grass - Only artists are capable of getting stimulated by these sources. To any other normal person, all these would only exist as mundane fragments of everyday life.
That being the case, imagine being in love with an artist.
Every emoji used, every gesture made, every thought shared, every little present gifted has the possibility of exciting the partner to the extent of inducing a great artwork. But the same cannot be said of a non-artist. The amount of joy on having received a gift from a loved one might be equal between the two but the wonderment caused by the gift will definitely be more in an artist.
After all, every artwork is a gift to some person in some way. Wouldn't such gift-makers be excited more for the gifts they receive?!
Also, try imagining the gifts such gift-makers would make for their loved ones. If a normal person can become a poet after falling in love, imagine what a poet is capable of after love happens to him/her.
Artists are the best empathizers.
Try telling a happy story to a bunch of people. The widest spread of a smile will happen on an artist's face. Try telling a sad story to a bunch of people. The first teardrop will roll down an artist's cheek.
A music composer is asked to compose a tune for a village based love story and the same music composer is asked to compose a tune for a futuristic urban love story. How does the composer do this?
Empathy.
When an artist can put himself/herself in another person's shoes so easily, how difficult would it be to wear a loved one's shoes?!
Artists are loners. At least, most.
The pro of this is having a lot of private time with the partner. There is pretty less chance that a phone call to an artist goes unattended because he/she is partying with a group of friends.
Most of an artist's parties happen inside his/her head.
But a big con is that most artists tend to prefer solitude over anything else - the 'anything else' might sometimes also include a loved one. The reason being that the artist might get interested to attend the party inside his/her head.
What do you do then? Do you drag the artist out of the party to water your romantic roses or do you let the partner enjoy the party so that the next masterpiece can take birth?
Being in a relationship with an artist is a sure step towards attaining maturity.
Artists tend to have bottled up emotions.
Imagine that a family member of an artist dies. A month later, you -the partner- ask about the loss. The artist might open up about it for hours and hours but after all those hours, the shared feelings might still only sum up to half of the artist's suppressed emotions.
An artist is always required to keep his/her artistic well filled with locked up emotions to fetch from in times of need.
A family member's loss to tune in to sadness. A little kid's kiss to tune in to joy. A close friend's betrayal to tune in to anger.
So, a "What do you feel?" or a "Do you want to share something?" might not always yield satisfying results.
And again, a difficult choice would have to be made - Would you want one half of the emotions shared with you and the other half shared with the world through art? Or would you want all the emotions shared with you?
The decision would mark the difference between familial bliss and artistic greatness.
Hence an artist's partner needs to understand that their relationship not only needs to take care of love but also of the art.
Thinking about all these, it actually makes sense that most artists end up falling in love with fellow artists.
Love for love and art for art.
****
After reading through the paragraphs typed above, I realized two things:
But then, why spoil the sport?!
An artist matters only as long as what he does not say stays more interesting than what he says.
****
Post-publish edit:
I thought about this conversation later that day and I was amazed. I had never really tried to think of a bird's picture as a portrait. "Could a person, other than an artist, have come up with such a thought?" I asked myself. The response was negative.
I continued thinking about artists. My thoughts slowly intertwined with thoughts on love and life. And the more I thought, the clearer it became - Artists are the best/worst possible romantic partners.
****
Artists are the most easily excitable of the lot.
A sprightly butterfly, a silvery crescent moon, a half constructed brick wall, an iron chain tied to an elephant's leg in a temple, a silent stretch of desert, a dewdrop hanging for its life from a blade of grass - Only artists are capable of getting stimulated by these sources. To any other normal person, all these would only exist as mundane fragments of everyday life.
That being the case, imagine being in love with an artist.
Every emoji used, every gesture made, every thought shared, every little present gifted has the possibility of exciting the partner to the extent of inducing a great artwork. But the same cannot be said of a non-artist. The amount of joy on having received a gift from a loved one might be equal between the two but the wonderment caused by the gift will definitely be more in an artist.
After all, every artwork is a gift to some person in some way. Wouldn't such gift-makers be excited more for the gifts they receive?!
Also, try imagining the gifts such gift-makers would make for their loved ones. If a normal person can become a poet after falling in love, imagine what a poet is capable of after love happens to him/her.
Artists are the best empathizers.
Try telling a happy story to a bunch of people. The widest spread of a smile will happen on an artist's face. Try telling a sad story to a bunch of people. The first teardrop will roll down an artist's cheek.
A music composer is asked to compose a tune for a village based love story and the same music composer is asked to compose a tune for a futuristic urban love story. How does the composer do this?
Empathy.
When an artist can put himself/herself in another person's shoes so easily, how difficult would it be to wear a loved one's shoes?!
Artists are loners. At least, most.
The pro of this is having a lot of private time with the partner. There is pretty less chance that a phone call to an artist goes unattended because he/she is partying with a group of friends.
Most of an artist's parties happen inside his/her head.
But a big con is that most artists tend to prefer solitude over anything else - the 'anything else' might sometimes also include a loved one. The reason being that the artist might get interested to attend the party inside his/her head.
What do you do then? Do you drag the artist out of the party to water your romantic roses or do you let the partner enjoy the party so that the next masterpiece can take birth?
Being in a relationship with an artist is a sure step towards attaining maturity.
Artists tend to have bottled up emotions.
Imagine that a family member of an artist dies. A month later, you -the partner- ask about the loss. The artist might open up about it for hours and hours but after all those hours, the shared feelings might still only sum up to half of the artist's suppressed emotions.
An artist is always required to keep his/her artistic well filled with locked up emotions to fetch from in times of need.
A family member's loss to tune in to sadness. A little kid's kiss to tune in to joy. A close friend's betrayal to tune in to anger.
So, a "What do you feel?" or a "Do you want to share something?" might not always yield satisfying results.
And again, a difficult choice would have to be made - Would you want one half of the emotions shared with you and the other half shared with the world through art? Or would you want all the emotions shared with you?
The decision would mark the difference between familial bliss and artistic greatness.
Hence an artist's partner needs to understand that their relationship not only needs to take care of love but also of the art.
Thinking about all these, it actually makes sense that most artists end up falling in love with fellow artists.
Love for love and art for art.
****
After reading through the paragraphs typed above, I realized two things:
- My understanding of an artist is limited to a small circle of artistic friends and many of the above mentioned points can fail with relation to other artists
- I have ended up typing a piece which has a severe risk of being misinterpreted as a self proclamation of pros and cons
But then, why spoil the sport?!
An artist matters only as long as what he does not say stays more interesting than what he says.
****
Post-publish edit:
One of my friends sent me a lengthy mail after reading this post, elaborating her thoughts on it. There were many appreciative statements, a testimony to her good nature. But there were also statements that affected me greatly.
"I have not come across a single person who has him/her completely disconnected from art. I wonder if you have! We can probably categorize it as people very close to art/ people not so very close. I doubt even if that makes sense.
I agree on everything you have tried to figure about artists.. 'Artists' as per the general definition. But I can never acknowledge the existence of non-artists.. At least until I come across somebody like that for myself personally!"
"I have not come across a single person who has him/her completely disconnected from art. I wonder if you have! We can probably categorize it as people very close to art/ people not so very close. I doubt even if that makes sense.
I agree on everything you have tried to figure about artists.. 'Artists' as per the general definition. But I can never acknowledge the existence of non-artists.. At least until I come across somebody like that for myself personally!"
Her thoughts have not yet let me free.
"Could a person, other than an artist, have come up with such a thought?" I ask myself. The response is negative.
I wait for another lengthy mail from my friend in response.
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