Nothing can corrupt the artist quite like his own pretension.
The consumer demands the artist to be himself
But the artist just wants to be wanted.
Ideas of what might look best of himself dictates the expression
When the artist does not know where he is.
Some artists are brilliant people–––geniuses of mental acumen.
Some artists are beautiful people–––power and grace personified.
Some artists are insufferable to themselves–––torture on display.
Some artists are empathic–––present and with you from afar.
But all artists want to be wanted and all artists need to be found.
If you told a fruit to be less sweet, it would beseech you to taste more closely;
If you asked a bird to teach you how to fly, you could waste some time together;
If you asked a whale to be more gentle, he would lift you to the surface;
But if you ask an artist to be himself, he will offer only his confusion.
Nothing commissions the artist more than who he is
And there is no greater achievement for the artist than the invention of his signature
But imitation is a pervasive lulling trap to capture his complacency
And yet the world is full of emptiness–––prepared however as always to be filled;
The belief that it has all been done is but a mindset as old as history.
In a world full of mockery, charade and pretense, we hunger for authenticity.
It doesn’t matter who you are, if you are who you are, you will always be wanted.
Picasso is a genius–––one who behests his own indomitability to the intransigent.
Matisse is brave–––one who, presented with a brave new world, made it braver.
Whoever you are, be who that is, because nothing is more disappointing
Than a life denied behind itself.