@August 20, 2020
Note: I originally wrote the following when I was 19. My perspective has changed very little.
What is an artist? A deeply moved person who conceals the most profound anguish in his heart but whose mouth is formed so that as he cries out to the world it sounds like a beautiful voice; whose hands are formed so that as he constructs his wall of defenses it sounds like beautiful music; whose words are formed so that the river of suffering flowing out of his soul carries with it an antagonist, protagonist, and theme that makes ideal company for one curled up in front of the fireplace after a long day at work; whose brush is formed so that as he uses it to beat off everything obscene, galaxies are created and captured on canvas.
An artist may seem like the most melancholy of all people, but this melancholia isn’t without benefit: Only the most tortured of all souls can find the beauty in the world; they’re the only ones that have the drive, fueled by desire, to capture beauty for all to enjoy.
The greatest desire of all is that of love. Love is not a bitter drink, but the smoothest and most intoxicatingly refreshing taste one can ever hope to experience. Once you’ve tasted it, nothing else compares. You no longer salivate at the sound of the bells, or live life unthinkingly through an instinctual pyramid. Everything you were is transcended and a new you is realized. Much like a pupa transforming into a butterfly, your perspective is radically changed and everything that you’ve ever known is different, is better. Such is the power of love. Wars have been waged and empires leveled because of its taste. The most beautifully moving sonnets and musical pieces linger in the air like a weeping lover who eternally longs for love after it has been forever lost. All of the beauty found in the world and pieced together on any medium imaginable cannot replace love that has been tasted and lost.
Great art is accomplished under the watchful eye of love; good art is fueled by the recollections of a love long gone. Such is the life of an artist.