Creative Types... are we all messed up?

Authors, Singers, Poets and Painters...
Are they messed up as a rule? Of course many are not/were not, but many are. Would you say this is because what's in their head does not come out on paper or sound/light as they'd like?

They spend so much time creating things...only to destroy themselves.

Theories?

The pattern of history suggests that there is a strong correlation between mental instability and artistic genius. Many great artists seem to have brains that have something more than the average person's brain, and the consequences of that are often mania, depression and addiction.

Some artists seem able to cope with whatever it is that makes them such visionaries, but of course there are many, many sad cases of people who simply could not cope. Some people just burn so brightly that they can not hope to sustain their brilliance.

If there is one positive in all of this, though, it is that we will remember the work of great artists long after their own pain has ended. Van Gogh, for example, had a pretty miserable life, but his work will be celebrated for as long as humanity is around. Perhaps that is a comfort to his spirit, if you believe in such things.

Maybe it is right that they're called Stars these days.

Some burn steady and then fade away

Some burn so brightly and are so big that they blow themselves apart.

I think it's an issue of balance/moderation. Some people are gifted with a certain ability, sometimes to an extreme, or to a fault. Other areas end up lacking. Though these people sometimes have mental issues, their extreme gifts can sometimes yield some of mankind's greatest achievements. I think it's inevitable that ya gotta be a LITTLE bit crazy to be a genius.

I don't think their crazy... just focused. They see world in ways that others don't always allow themselves to be open to. Sometimes this is emotional or mental causing them to seem unusual to the "normal" people of the world.

I think we, as people, are generally fully happy with any outcome no matter what. It's like a chain reaction. Perfection is the goal but IF you ever achieve it... what's there to continue to strive for?

I've written novels and a Masters. I've opened businesses on 2 continents and pondering a third. I was married. I was divorced. I've fallen in love. I've fallen out of love. Perfection is the goal but getting there is half the battle and the fun.

Don't stress about insanity or how we're hardwired... just enjoy the ride and see where exactly it can take you.

As a sidenote, people that can draw/paint or are musically inclined, in my books, are amazing. It's a gift I do not share and one I often wish that I could.

A million times yes! We're totally fucked, dude. I have no idea what it's like for someone else but for me it's most akin to drug abuse. I wake each morning, the haze of a dream that was far too vivid to handle still lingering in my thoughts and of course the very first thought I have is "I have to get this down." Of course most mornings I don't have time to put said idea down so it lingers and festers.
I seek out certain creative projects to take on, even if they serve no benefit to anyone else but myself. The drive to do it, live it, finish it is so strong that I'm singularly focused. Be Damned if someone tries to interrupt me during one of these projects.
I am cyclic in creativity. For a few months I want to write things down. Every scrap of paper in the house is scribbled on with notes barely discernible by anyone aside from myself. For a few months I play piano, spending hours hitting the same four or five chords until I get not a song, but just a dischordant sound I want to play. THen for a few months I go on a painting frenzy. My dreams are wild and deep, begging to be shared and I'll spend hours trying to recreate these things, only to feel as if I've fallen short from the true beauty of a place that doesn't exist.
I have tried everything to kill it. Not painting when the urge strikes fills me with anxiety and aggravation, like having an itch I can't seem to reach. I've tried keeping myself too busy to indulge in these creative compulsions, but then it seems like my life is empty, missing something important and again my mood suffers.
It scares me sometimes when I say to myself "Yeah, that van gogh fellow totally cut off his ear for someone he loved." and I can relate. It's about passion. I think overly creative people are born with more passion than they can handle, the kind of passion that kicks logic out the door and lies in wait for a way out. Creative people are constantly seeking beauty. Sometimes, if the sky is just right, I'll just stare at it, regardless of where I need to be or what I need to do. Sometimes I'll find certain people beautiful and my mind will turn over and over, wondering how to recreate it.
Creativity is in essence an obsession. The balance between insanity and functionality in a creative person is so fragile. So yeah, to answer your question, overly creative people are seriously screwed. It's damn near a mental disorder, but damn we're fun.

Yes, you are all messed up.

In my opinion art in all of it's forms appeals to its audience because they identify with someone expressing something similar to the way they feel themselves in a way which they cannot personally do.

It tends to take someone who is, shall we say, more free of spirit and less concerned about what other people think to express themselves in that way.

They may not care what other people think for a number of reasons and some might call it messed up but for whatever reason they have the confidence to express themselves.

if it makes you feel better, i am extremely uncreative and became a CPA. it's just what i'm good at and enjoy.

and i'm as fucked up as the rest of you

because no matter what you write, no matter what you do, it never fulfills that FUCKING brilliance an idea can have in your head.

it's that nobody might understand it. or that perhaps most alarming of all, nobody will like it.

We are whores for things we do not understand. We compare ourselves to others and rarely see good in ourselves.

yes we are!!

No, we're not messed-up as a rule, even though we'd like to think we are.

We can be different but we are not insane or anything......Well I am but not everyone is.

I haven't attained the real level of creativity just yet. All I have right now is skill, passion and guts. I'm still far to be messed up.

Messed up ...maybe. I have known some very wonderfully creative people who are messed up inside. I have also seen some people who are messed up because they don't have any good way to express that creativity, or lack supplies, time to create, etc. I think that can make the soul sick.

Personally I do find myself a bit more apathetic when it's been awhile since I've written any poetry, or if I can't find any new music I like. My poetry and listening to music go hand in hand so if I can't find music I like, I don't want to write, and that puts me in a funk. But overall I do think that there is a certain level of oddness that comes with being creative, and that only has to do with the fact that one might need to reach outside of the realms of "normalcy" (whatever normal means ) to create something wonderful.

I think people tend to overstate the genius of the eccentric. It's a reverse rule of what you might expect; the more outlandish a person's character the more likely we are to appreciate their work because we presume there to be something more underneath the surface. The tragic or insane artist makes for a catchier story and better fits the prescribed archetype.

And as a knock-on effect, many people who like to think of themselves as the creative type mould themselves by the eccentricities they feel belong to that role, possibly in order to compensate for a lack of talent or skill.

How many people are familiar with the work of the poet Sylvia Plath? Now who's familiar with the work of Ted Hughes, also a poet. Chances are you've heard more from the one who killed herself with an oven, despite even my female, ex-hardcore-feminist literature teacher begrudgingly admitting that Hughes was the superior poet. We all hear about and are drawn to the more tragic of the two, as well as somehow take for granted right from the beginning that she must have had some innate ability beyond all reproach due solely to her chaotic and self-destructive nature.

*Some* of the real masters of Renaissance didn't die of strangulation or self-destruction. They advanced beyond, became icons and died of syphillis. Too much sex appeal, you know.

CrazyLikeAFox said:

I think people tend to overstate the genius of the eccentric. It's a reverse rule of what you might expect; the more outlandish a person's character the more likely we are to appreciate their work because we presume there to be something more underneath the surface. The tragic or insane artist makes for a catchier story and better fits the prescribed archetype.

And as a knock-on effect, many people who like to think of themselves as the creative type mould themselves by the eccentricities they feel belong to that role, possibly in order to compensate for a lack of talent or skill.

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Bullseye

I can't speak for all creative types, but I know Cy/MiG is a whackjob. I mean, totally over the hill crazy! To this day he still chases after cars.

Sandrock74 said:

I can't speak for all creative types, but I know Cy/MiG is a whackjob. I mean, totally over the hill crazy! To this day he still chases after cars.

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I'm creative? Dear God...

Cy/MiG said:

I'm creative? Dear God...

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Well, to be fair, I never said you were creative. Just crazy!

Sandrock74 said:

Well, to be fair, I never said you were creative. Just crazy!

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Not only is that beyond fair, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me!