Trusting the Muse

As an art instructor I oftentimes deal with student fears about making art. Young artists, of any age, sometimes find it difficult to trust their ideas. I respond by telling them not to question but to follow where the muse leads. Learning to trust and to follow ones personal muse sometimes requires behavior that others may view as eccentric. This leads to another often asked question: why are artists always so eccentric? These two concepts are really bookends to the pursuit of an artistic path. One is the beginning: trusting the muse and the other is the result of this trust in oneself as an artist.

When I was a kid, I collaged my entire bedroom floor to ceiling because I didn’t like the wallpaper. This idea came naturally and there was no anxiety because I was not trying to be an artist, it was just awful wallpaper. When I began to study art, whenever it was possible to cut and paste fragments of images together that was how I would solve the problem. Now I consider myself a collagist, and photography is my primary medium.

One of the things that I was struck by in the next episode of Art:21 is how the early work of each artist led to a lifetime of images. The footage of Paul McCarthy dragging his young body through white paint reminded me of early William Wegman films of his dog Man Ray drinking milk poured on the floor. Both of these films are silly, and for me, far more interesting for where they lead the artist. Wegman’s dog would not stay out of his films or photographs and so in frustration he lets the dog take the leading role. This eventually leads to a contract with Sesame Street. But can you imagine Wegman telling his parents that when he grows up he wants to make dog portraits? No doubt, they would have suggested something more practical.

Cindy Sherman, another featured artist, never stopped playing dress up and was always enamored with her image on film. I love the little scrapbook where she would circle herself in the picture and write below “That’s me!” Through her love of play acting she has deconstructed stereotypes of women and built a career out of self-portraiture. The history of self-portraits goes back to the refinement of the mirror during the Baroque era with Salvator Rosa and Rembrandt being two of the earliest to explore this genre. It could also be argued that it is an ancient theme dating back to the Greek myth of Narcissus. It has been a genre of photography since the inception but no one has produced a larger body of work than Sherman. Of course now with social networking sites and digital cameras she probably has a few rivals with their cameras at arms length in what I call the My Space point of view.

Albert Einstein once said, "If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it." The artists mentioned may be considered eccentric; they are known for pushing art in new directions and for challenging the status quo. What they have in common is that they trusted the muse to guide them. Watch Art:21 this week and get inspired.