Artist, Fighter, Survivor…

Brian Brewington
Jul 21, 2017 · 3 min read

I’m an artist, a fighter and a survivor. I struggle every day, whether it goes unseen or not. I fight with a smile on and survive on a round by round basis. This is my arena, I own this ring. I’m knocked down often but get back up more frequently, usually to the crowds surprise.

The ref knows he can’t call the fight. He knows I am the fight. This is my fucking game and if you want this title you’ll have to rip it from my cold dead hands.

I’m a fighter who survives through his art because it’s all he knows. My only opponent is a blank sheet of paper or blinking cursor, my only weapon a pen or keyboard. I’m still undefeated, although I’m often punch drunk.

I’ve survived fights I shouldn’t have and made an art of bleeding all over this canvas. If I wasn’t able to contribute my blood and sweat to this craft, I’d have no interest in it.

Art is a constant fight against resistance, an opponent I know all too well. One who knows me as well as I’ve come to know it.

Survival is an art for me, I’ve danced my way around so many rings. My strength is not in the blows I throw but instead in my ability to avoid those being thrown at me.

It is in adapting and adjusting, then finally countering at the perfect time.

I want to provide the inspiration that provides this world with the kind of art that fights to survive and thrive. The kind that pushes others to push themselves past the limits they unnecessarily set for themselves out of fear so long ago.

I want to fight for your dream and mine. I want to change the world, one round and one fight at a time. I want to fight for our collective right to create art that matters.

This is the only avenue I know how to survive and paint on. It’s my favorite place to fight.

I’ve grown up through doing this, it’s been my only mentor and cutman. The stories I tell are my entire entourage. I often train while others rest. I awake at times they won’t to prepare in ways most others refuse to. I’ve always been the underdog and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m never favored, I just learned a long time ago that showing up to the fight is half the battle.

If I could not create, I would not survive. I fight to create the art that miraculously found a way to survive through all of the pain I’ve endured over the years. The artist in me refuses to die or stay down. The fighter in me has made a grandiose art out of the brutality I’ve endured, bout after bout. The survivor in me won’t allow me to stop fighting. I swing until the bell rings.

I am here to create art in which fights to survive. I fight to be the artist whose craft speaks for itself. My art doesn’t have to show up to the weigh in the night before the fight wearing a fancy suit, it doesn’t have anything to prove to challengers. While my opponent talks, I listen.

I study while he tries to amuse the crowd. I condition while he tells reporters how tough he is.

Like a man less wise but much tougher than myself once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. My only plan is to create, survive and continue to fight until I can’t anymore. Until the punch in the mouth I’ve always heard so much about finally catches up to me.

The Ascent

A community of storytellers documenting the journey to happiness & fulfillment.

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Brian Brewington

Written by

Writing About the Human Condition, via My Thoughts, Observations, Experiences, and Opinions — Founder of Journal of Journeys and BRB INC ©

The Ascent

A community of storytellers documenting the journey to happiness & fulfillment.

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