Matters of the heART[ist] -Finding your lane & riding it (The Art of Authenticity)

The following is a blog post published on TheBlackArtGallery.com that was written by me. Over my time thus far in my art career, it has become apparent how nuclear an artist’s philosophy is to their work and their lives. I have really spent over 10,000 hours devoted to my creative mind and the development of my soul. What you are about to read is a languaging of a philosophy of mine. Something I have lent to the artist which I hope helps them see themselves.

So the saying goes, “imitation is the highest form of flattery.” However, I would contend that authenticity is the well that never runs dry. Imitation as a creative force can only drive your car but so far. As what is for someone else is for them, and while you can imitate the product you cannot imitate the process. In a world where attention is fleeting and the next best thing is ever-changing, there could be this pressure to adjust with the times. However, art transcends time. Longevity and legacy are bred in the maturation of self and service. Who you are and how you create, produce, and connect. This is the only guarantee of a withstanding career in art; any artform. 

It’s important to understand that as an artist, your creation is a direct reflection of how you live and the experiences that inhabit your life. The keyword here being, YOUR LIFE, not someone else’s. You can appreciate what someone has done with the art of their life, hell you can even be influenced by it, but the products that are created from those feelings should be produced directly from its own vessel. Artists who struggle to create authentic work reflective of their truest selves oftentimes may find they have trouble living; living life for themselves, not to show someone else or for any other egotistical reason. You must live from your Spirit to create from your Heart. Speaking from my own art practice, when I am the dullest is when I know I need to move around, go somewhere, take myself out of the mundane. However, that goes back to me knowing myself as an artist. I think the part of art and exploration that makes them both exciting and synonymous is the serendipity of discovery.  Who are you? What inspires you? Where in the world do you want to create, even if it is only a few words? What fuels your creative drive? What questions and observations do you pull from when you need to add something extra to your thought, work, or self? 

The process of answering these questions is where the art works. Where it molds and forms and reveals itself in the most beautiful ways. One thing I have learned as a writer is that very little writing happens in the journal or at the laptop. It happens out with friends and on my travels and in my breakdowns both in public and private. It happens in conversations with others and myself and even while I sleep. Those are the things you must give your attention to, for that is where the art reveals itself. The most liberating belief I have come to know is that you cannot focus on other people’s processes in how they arrive at their work. Even if you are both accomplishing the same thing. Even if you both appear to be doing the same thing. Once I stopped looking around to see how “they” did it and started looking within to see how I do it, not only did I find more joy but I also unlocked an ever-flowing well of creativity which is unique to me and only me. It may have been molded by outside influences but the hands which craft the thing are my own. 

Speaking of hands, a skilled chef makes recipes that are unique to them. Even if the dish is common and one that everyone eats, adding the “secret sauce” can take something from ordinary to extraordinary; it’s like adding your personal imprint. While I do believe nothing really “new” can be created, in that we are all reproducing that which may have been done before,  how YOU do it is what sets each individual thing apart from the next. It's all in the sauce. What’s your secret sauce? What’s a way that you view something which you believe little to few people view this thing in that way? How do you add your personal touch to things? To take it a little deeper, what do you believe is your purpose here and what tools do you have and innately possess in you that have lent themselves to your assistance? Your secret sauce is not something that can be made, and most certainly not created provided a recipe. It is something that was instilled in you, possibly deriving from your birthright. Your secret sauce can be cultivated and molded; its power harnessed; which is what an art career essentially is:  the brewing of the secret sauce in the creation and production of works that will leave a lasting impression only in ways that you can, while satiating the desires of your own heart. 

It’s no coincidence that the word art is within the word heart. That’s its root, its home base, the point from which it illuminates. What burning desires and hunger of the heart must be fed? Whether you have figured out a way to monetize it or not, those are the fires you need to be flaming. They are what progress you in your lane driving you toward your destiny. When you are worried about the speed of everyone else around you and the tools they are using to drive their life, you are neglecting the sharpening of your own tools and the possession of your own gifts. Some things, specifically in Art can only be produced from one’s own experience, from one’s own life, their own heART. It is true when they say the grass is greener wherever you water it. The harvest of a self-actualized artist produces a tree whose giving never ends. Plant the seed of yourself and watch it grow. May you eat from its fruit forever.