Making Art

I have the rewarding and infuriating skill of being to see the bigger picture for most ideas or projects that I explore.

This ability is beneficial within settings like building a business because I can conceptualise, think things through and connect dots sooner. I’m thus also pretty good at figuring out what needs to be done today that will align with and help me make progress towards the bigger picture and goal.

Where this skill has however been less helpful — and probably infuriating — is with everything that is more subjective, less rational and with less apparent “value”.

I have often dreamed up projects that I would love to work on, but then start thinking through how I would both give and take value from the exercise, and I get stuck in neutral, failing even to pull away. For someone who claims that money isn’t a decisive consideration in most things in my life, this is a lame state of affairs.

The bigger challenge is that this primarily happens with my writing and I have harboured so many writing-related goals throughout my adult life. But because I keep finding myself contemplating the bigger picture and the question of value often, I have written and published (I have tens of thousands of unpublished words for half-finished projects strewn across various apps) far less than I should’ve.

I have recently been reading Amanda Palmer’s “The Art of Asking” and it has helped me get out of this shaming, neutral gear that has halted my exploration of my talents and dreams.

One of the things that the book helped me to was to reframe my perspective on my writing (and my relationship with my writing). In the past, I would see my writing as a means to whatever end. A vehicle of sorts. Or a work.

Today I view it more as art. Not because I think of myself as this incredibly gifted, creative and artistic writer. In fact, my writing is art because of the exact opposite. Let me explain.

I have tried to write things that I believed would get read and shared; often compromising on writing about the things I wanted to write or how I wanted to write about those things. I got stuck in all of the formulas, blueprints and tactics of going viral and growing an audience, instead of just writing.

The thing about art is that an audience will like it or they won’t. So if my writing is my art, I can give myself permission to focus on the feedback from those that love it. I don’t have to please everyone and ultimately dilute my art in favour of finding a bigger audience.

I believe this is what Kevin Kelly spoke about when he wrote about 1000 True Fans. And Simon Sinek did the same when he said: “Do business with the people that believe (and value) what you believe (and value).”

This mindset doesn’t come without its imperfections and challenges. Putting art into the world is a little random; fans that love this next artwork might feel nothing for the next. Your fans will churn, and sometime in future, they may reactivate.

If you’re going to try to make a living off your art, this will be less repeatable and thus predictable. It won’t scale easily and will probably not become a million dollar business.

But unlike activities (like building a business) that require “big picture thinking” — and the scale and breadth that comes with that — this is just about art.

And today, I know that I’ve withheld myself from doing certain things over the years because I would devalue my art. I thought I needed to be read (widely), to be of value (to everyone) and to be paid (at scale).

So today, I’ll just make more art.

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Photo by Alice Achterhof on Unsplash