On Art

Written to an artist friend.

Any creative person confronts the need to balance the muse inside with what other human beings need and value. Both the creator and the consumers of the created are free to do as they please. At some level a 'creation' only becomes 'art' or 'literature' or even a 'product' if a another human being values it enough to consume or collect it. Sometimes this transaction occurs easily and immediately resulting in fame and fortune, sometimes it occurs sequentially and fame arrives later, even posthumously. For most writers, artists and creative entrepreneurs it does not come at all. That is the burden of freedom. The right to do what you will encompasses the right to do that which no one else  understands or values. And the right to keep doing it even if it never pays off. That's why artists have muses and not investment managers in their souls. Freedom is a two edged sword, red with the the blood of its adherents.