"Why do you create?”
My reply to a friend posing this question:
Why, for fame and fortune, of
course! Actually, sometimes I wish I knew. I know I
feel motivated to create and I wish I could say I always
find contentment in the process. Sometimes it is
quite fulfilling and sometimes it just seems to
drain the last bit of energy. Another reason I create is to get
better at it. I know there’s no logic in such purpose,
particularly if that reason stands alone. Early in my career “creating”
meant satisfying the tastes of a second party or in some
cases someone even further removed than “second.”
I’d like to think I’m contributing
something to the visual vocabulary, but it’s a big art
world out there and at times it can be hard to see significance
in what I do. So, we artists must take a somewhat
philosophical approach and work within the available
arena and trust that in the grand scheme of things it
may matter. For each of us who create art, I
believe a motivation exists that is rarely acknowledged
to oneself and never acknowledged to others.
By now dear reader you may
perceive that I am serious about my art, but don’t take
my art too seriously. There’s an abundance of pompous
discourse regarding what so many of us are doing without
my adding to the babble.
Robert
DeWitt Smith
2735
Deborah Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32310
LINKS:
Gadsden Arts Center
FSU Artists' League
Council on Culture & Arts
LeMoyne Art
Center
