My mother is an artist by education, but she didn't pursue a career in art, and opted for being an artisan and practicing art in her spare time. She's now retired and is only occasionally asked to do some part time work.
By her account now is the best time for actual creativity. There's no pressure to stand out and as a long time member of the artist association she can count on some space to show off her work should she wish so, but most of her paintings never see a larger audience because she now paints things that match her taste alone. It's kind of therapeutic really.
She also does sculpture because every painter eventually becomes a sculptor and every sculptor eventually becomes a painter.
People who went down the path of being a career artist are in a generally worse position now, because that's all they know and what they invested all their time in and unfortunately most of them didn't make much of a name for themselves.
> "She also does sculpture because every painter eventually becomes a sculptor and every sculptor eventually becomes a painter."
I've noticed this through various reading and art classes back at university, but I've never quite come across a reason why this tends to hold true across the two domains. Why do you think that is? Or, better yet, why does your mother think that is?
I called her specifically to ask this, so here goes:
It's part urban legend, part self-fulfilling prophecy and part other reasons, namely:
Sculpting is hard, manual labour. And expensive at that due to the sheer volume of the medium along with storage space requirements. Over time people simply get sick of dealing with the day to day hardships of this artform so they turn to something lighter - like painting.
Painters on the other hand get bored of exploring the limitations of their field - some of which, like avoiding the colour black, are akin to the tabs vs spaces debate in IT, so they try other forms.
Ultimately artists will eventually try every medium that catches their interest just like musicians try other instruments and sometimes even get good at them. Professionally they just stick to what they know.
That makes me think about David Bowie’s last album.
I am pretty neutral on his previous creations. But his last album really resonates in me.
And I wonder how you do feel when you have reached such a level of expertise, and are given an unknown amount of limited time to achieve your last creation.
Definitely the exact same artist/album pairing I thought of as well. It's an incredible album from someone who was already at the top of his game. He almost appears to be pulling beyond the limits of mortality by acknowledging it.
Have you listened to Brainwashed by George Harrison? It was his last album, knowing he had cancer and had limited time... wondering if you may have similar resonance with that one.
Zevon's last album is titled "The Wind" and yeah it really does stand out! His last performance on Late Night w/ Letterman is also something to check out. Really lots of his material is interesting to check out, even the stuff that doesn't do it for me is still good to enjoy!
I also love "Brainwashed" by George Harrison. Now I want to listen to the last Bowie album, assuming it was made in a similar context. It also makes me wonder if there's a list of all albums made in a similar vein. It would be an... emotional experience to listen to them all back-to-back!
I only learned about Zevon's letterman appearance a few weeks ago and watched that. Quite ... powerful, in a very low key way. Was never a huge WZ fan, but had friends who were always in to him - his work is making its way in to my rotation now.
Brainwashed very much seemed like a 'best of' from George. Creative, spiritual, humorous, polished (but still a bit of a 'raw' feeling, in some ways). All his skills and talent seemed to come together at the same time, if only for one last push.
If you're looking for some interesting Zevon listens, there's a few YouTube videos from the early 80's that are quite good. He also has shows on archive.org which can be listened to.
The Bowie one is less of a tearful goodbye and more of a triumphant bow, so maybe one to play last heh. It’s excellent. Must be such a deep creative position to be in, making your final creative work after a long and successful career.
It's one thing to paint in front of canvas into 80s and 90s, but it's truly remarkable to built large spider sculptures like Louise Bourgeois did at the same ages.
Not mentioned in the article: Michelangelo, who outlived pretty much all of his contemporaries and, "late in life, took on a series of huge, daunting projects, fully aware that he would never live to see them completed."
So this is not in regards to art, but instead with regards to building software. In my 40s I feel like my brain is finally working. Things which seemed extremely difficult a few years, I can now build with clarity and simplicity. People and political issues which seemed so difficult are now child's play. Consequently, the type of opportunities I am getting are very different from before, and much more interesting.
What have I lost - outside of my most favorite areas, my taste for theoretical CS which previously drove is completely gone. I'm now looking for work that is it's own reward.
I enjoyed the Le Guin quote... until I searched for its source and found her even better blog post where she demolishes it, 'The Inner Child and the Nude Politician' [0]. Every once in awhile I'm reminded that she blogged and that I owe it to myself to read her.
Thanks for the correction and fantastic resource. I still resonate with the less-reductive sentiment of the quote; among friends in fields with little relation to their personal interests, I'm (un?)fortunate to have willed my way from childhood robot toys into a PhD in robotics. That childlike creativity is a useful asset to get unstuck.
It hurt me a little bit to read what she had to say, but I don't think she detracts from your sentiment at all. Retaining a childlike playfulness has helped me through career, marriage, parenting, a PhD (in roughly that order.) I joke that we're like onions, simply adding a new layer every year, getting to keep who we were before.
Here are a couple of Einstein quotes on the matter:
“People like you and me, though mortal, of course, like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live. What I mean is that we never cease to stand like curious children before the great Mystery into which we are born.” – Albert Einstein
“There is, after all, something eternal that lies beyond the reach of the hand of fate and of all human delusions. And such eternals lie closer to an older person than to a younger one who oscillates between fear and hope. For us, there remains the privilege of experiencing beauty and truth in their purest forms.” – Albert Einstein
She didn't say that apparently [1]. However, as a creative person, the sentiment resonates with me. There is definitely an element of child-like play to the creative process.
By her account now is the best time for actual creativity. There's no pressure to stand out and as a long time member of the artist association she can count on some space to show off her work should she wish so, but most of her paintings never see a larger audience because she now paints things that match her taste alone. It's kind of therapeutic really.
She also does sculpture because every painter eventually becomes a sculptor and every sculptor eventually becomes a painter.
People who went down the path of being a career artist are in a generally worse position now, because that's all they know and what they invested all their time in and unfortunately most of them didn't make much of a name for themselves.