Today, I wish to share some words from a page out of Robert Henri’s magnum opus, The Art Spirit (page 177 in case you’re curious). In this incessant age of anxiety — where time feels too fast, our activities never so empty and meaningless, and loneliness never very far away despite a plethora of distractions and constant abstract busyness — one’s spirit needs to be periodically lifted and renewed. We need inspiration. We need to be reminded that there is much more to living than this day-in and day-out nine-to-five work, running errands, and escaping periodically into rituals whether frivolous or religious. We need to be shown again why we must do art. Henri states:
“Freedom can only be attained through an understanding of basic order.”
And it is clear that making art, and doing it the right way, places us in a orderly state. Not the superficial, externally imposed order that is the hallmark of exploiters and dictators but internal order. An organized mind, well-prepared and focused, is one that is demanded by our craft and by our passion to create good art. A mind needs order to feel secure in its actions else it can’t proceed either sanely or creatively.
“Those who have lived and grown at least to some degree in the spirit of freedom are our creative artists. They have a wonderful time. They keep the world going.“
To live freely and bravely is the most human thing to do. And to create defines the very spirit and expression of a democratic and liberal society, where we are forward thinking and actively doing what is most important. And that course of action, to create something new, will always challenge our levels of courage and our honor. Entropy and resistance will always try to defy us but if we were to think even a little more deeply about this, we’d have to ask: is there any other way of living that is as reasonable as answering one’s calling? Art isn’t the answer to all our ills, but even philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once stated that he needed “the enchantment of creative work to help him forget life’s mean pettinesses.” We can do much worse doing something else, something not in our hearts. In fact, many human activities, as Henri noted, serve no more than mere financial transactions:
“The importance of what they (artists) do is greater than anyone estimates at the time. In fact, in a commercial world there are thousands of lives wasted doing things not worth doing. Human spirit is sacrificed.“
He continues by reminding us that living without art and the artistic approach brings not life but death:
“More and more things are produced without a will in the creation, and are consumed or “used” without a will in the consumption or the using. These things are dead. They pass, masquerading as important while they are before us, but they pass utterly.“
And if we do let our conditioning — our default settings — to rule over us, then we begin to compromise not just our art but almost all things important to us.
“People are so affected by outside opinion that they go to their most important work half-hearted or half-ashamed.“
It’s terrible to live “half-way” — to live in fear, or constant guilt, anxiety and worry. To live imprisoned in our skulls — forgetting to look, listen, smell and touch the wonders of this world that surrounds us and is present all the time — is not living at all. Art, on the other hand, reminds us to take concrete action; it’s value going far beyond satisfying mere whims or obsessions because art isn’t just a psychological exercise, it’s a physical one and one as real as the ground we stand on. Art helps us to separate thinking from doing by driving us to create, to live anew.
“There is nothing so important as art in the world, nothing so constructive, so life-sustaining… it has inestimable and lasting life value.“
It can be easy to forgot our value as creatives, so easy to ignore our calling. Our society idolizes the abstract yet measurable notions of position and power, money and fame. The financialized, commoditized way of thinking, so predominant that we no longer challenge it even for a moment, is now worshipped more universally than all the religions in the world combined. Art, especially in the making of it, flies in the face of that kind of artificiality. As writer Jeanette Winterson remarked ever so clearly, art objects this kind of totalitarian onslaught of our common senses and decency. We mustn’t forget that man can not live on bread alone — he needs to feed his spirit too, else he dies a worse death, just one physically prolonged.
So it’s important to do our work. As Neil Gaiman famously said “make good art.” Or as Henri says even more boldly, make great art:
“Go to your work because it is the most important living to you. Make great things — as great as you are.“
And don’t worry that you’re not necessarily ready to excel. Forget for a moment about the idea of success or failure. Just respond to your passion that calls on you to animate that scene, make that painting or write that story you’ve always wanted to write. Put that vision down on paper, make the preparations, practice the skills, and then dive right in. Art is far more than idle conception, it’s action that yields a tangible expression. Look to the masters. Aim to be a master but not a finished person.
“It’s a wrong idea that a master is a finished person. Master are very faulty, they haven’t finished learning and they know it. Finished persons are very common — people who are closed up, quite satisfied that there is little or nothing more to learn.“
In conclusion, know that art is needed, not just for yourself individually but for all who follow. I know that I wouldn’t have been able to gather the strength or courage to do it were it not for the artists who came before me. Their art and the lives they’ve lead — like that of Robert Henri’s — inspired undeterred commitment. The trail they left behind is our beginning. Go and do likewise fellow artists.
“Art is, after all, only a trace — like a footprint which shows that one has walked bravely and in great happiness.“