djamilaknopf
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Essay: Why I Make Art
🕑 Added 2023-03-03 13:54:31 +0000 UTCHello friends!
I'm preparing the rewards right now, and I will send them out later today. But before I do that, I wanted to share this piece of writing I did recently, titled Why I Make Art. It's a topic I've been thinking about, especially with current challenges like AI art.
I'm currently in the process of putting together the content of my second art book, which will revolve around the creative process, and what it means to be an artist. This is an excerpt from it:
When I ask myself why I make art, the first thing that comes to mind is a quote by Neil Gaiman: “The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before.”, and the more I think about it, the more I believe that that’s the core of what drives me. The ability to create something out of thin air, the mere act of making, exerts this magnetic pull I haven’t been able to escape. Through art, whether it is painting, writing, music or any other means of creative expression, I can turn a moment into something permanent. The result is this unique mosaic of the things I see with my own eyes, and the things I imagine only in my mind. Making art allows me to bring things to life that no one else is bothering to make. When I see something and find myself thinking “I wish there was more like it”, I will get to work and create it myself. I can paint anything and everything, build whole worlds even, and all I need is a piece of paper and some paint.
This is not about leaving a legacy, I don’t care about that. I won’t know if anyone is looking at my paintings after I’ve turned to dust, and I’m not wondering whether my creations will outlive me or will have some relevance in the future. To me, it’s about the current moment: I’m here now, and painting is a fundamental part of my existence on this earth.
Art has always been my way to frame and reshape my own reality, it provided an escape when I was young, and now it has become a mirror. It helps me perceive things more mindfully, brings me clarity when I’m working through something I don’t quite understand, and it tells me a lot about myself. When I create, I forge a deeper connection to myself and to my surroundings, and it helps me make sense of the world and my place within it.
Creative expression is a natural cycle for me that is a part of everyday life: Information, impressions, and inspiration go in, art comes out, it’s always been that way. It’s an act of conservation, a record of me being alive. I can look back at a certain period in time, look at my paintings and see changing themes and motifs, snapshots of my state of mind and my interests at the time. From underwater scenes to upside-down cityscapes, they are all traces of my wanderings that have been given shape and substance. Each piece becomes a memento.
Art is communication. Like most of us, I learnt how to draw before I learnt how to write, so drawing became my first and primary means of creative expression, a language influenced by the culture and aesthetics surrounding me. And by making art, I get to show those aspects to others who may have been exposed to similar things throughout their lives, and it becomes a shared experience.
I have often asked myself whether I could even exist independently of my art, because it is so strongly entangled with my identity and self-worth, and I have come to the conclusion that I could probably live without painting. But I would immediately run and immerse myself in a new endeavor: Writing, carpentry, sewing, anything. Creativity is what holds me together, and being alive, to me, means to be creative. I need a purpose and goal to ground me, I need to know that I’m progressing in a certain direction, not standing still. Deeply immersing myself in something that’s challenging makes me happy, and I need that little bit of discomfort and unease to keep things exciting. What I absorb needs to be redirected, and simply being a recipient has never been enough. I associate art with continued learning, endless possibilities, and with personal growth. It keeps changing with me, and it will stay with me my entire life, if I choose to let it.
Guiding questions for readers:
- Why do you make art? What motivates you to make art?
- Why did you choose drawing and painting as your means of creative expression?
- What does art mean to you?
- What needs does art-making fulfill?
