Angela on Art

The War of Art

Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, by Steven Pressfield.

(a book review of sorts)

I recently read this book and thought it was very enlightening. The short one paragraph to three page chapters gave his thoughts on the struggles and nature of creativity.

He starts by explaining the various resistances faced by creators, including fear of failure and fear of success. Artists need to set aside time and space, often at the detriment of relationships and other responsibilities. You need to have a disciplined, scheduled, uncluttered, rested and ready mind to begin your work. By the end of the book, you understand that this key element makes creating happen. The muses/God/angels are on our side and will help us create, if we just give them a way in.

Art includes writing of all kinds, visual art of all kinds, music, theater, dance and athletics. All of these disciplines require the same principles of time, passion and integrity. To create something new, you can’t care about trends or marketability. He separates artists from “hacks” by their drive to create vs. their desire to sell or be famous.

He didn’t really talk about hobbyists. I think there is great value in taking pottery classes, singing at a karaoke bar, playing pick-up basketball and writing in your journal, as I’m sure does Steven Pressfield. He was focusing on professional artists, which he defines by their commitment and drive, not their income from their art. The professional artist doesn’t stop after finishing a project whether it was a great success or not. They move onto the next project.

The idea he shared that was most enlightening to me was the difference between artists and fundamentalists. Artists look forward and want humanity to progress and change. Fundamentalists look back, wanting to recreate the past, which they think is better. That is a polarity I never thought of, but it’s probably why we have liberals and conservatives.

I don’t identify as an artist, but as an art appreciator. I am moved and I respect the work of so many creators. I love museums, galleries, movies, concerts and books. I saw Patti Smith at Meany Hall last week, talking about her new book and performing some songs. To me, she is pure creativity, unconcerned with fashion and trends, simply writing poetry and songs from her heart, every day. I majored in art history after trying architecture and almost every art medium, not finding one that felt like l could latch onto. I realized that mastering a medium was just craftsmanship, not art. I feel like others are called to be artists and they can’t not be artists. Steven Pressfield feels this too, but he believes we all have creativity within us.

I highly recommend this book. Now I understand that humanity’s most important task is to be interested, curious and to evolve. I know that we have muses on our side.