Why you don’t have to struggle to be creative
There is a misconception that, in order to be a successful artist, one must suffer through life with very little to produce uniquely creative and influential pieces of art. There are many examples of great artists who struggled and starved, but produced the greatest of works; artists such as Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, and Van Gogh. The aforementioned artists are considered some of the greatest musicians in history, yet they died in poverty, never reaching the sort of recognition that they would receive after their lifetime. The modern misconception is that you will be doomed to be a starving artist unless you give up these aspirations.
The stereotype that an artist must suffer for the majority of their life in order to create good art is perpetuated through singers and artists that die young. Modern examples of this excessive life style that is a by-product of this starving artist archetype include: Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and, Kurt Kobain. Singers that by no means starve had potential but died young. I think this is a relevant contemporary issue because for every successful artist, there are a thousand others who never gain recognition. The idea that the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long is another misconception that is proven false by artists that succeed later in life.
On the other hand, artists can succeed after living comfortable lives like Charles Dickens, Rembrandt and Andy Warhol. The fact that there are artists that don’t succeed does not correlate to them not succeeding because they didn’t live in relative poverty. Good art does not have to come out of suffering; it can come from a place of relative success and comfort. Stephen King, Oprah, Jay-Z, J.K. Rowling, and Bill Gates all failed before they started to succeed, but once they were successful they still produced and created excellent art. Stephen King’s first novel Carrie was rejected 30 times, Bill Gate’s first company Turf O-Data was largely unsuccessful, and Henry Ford reported bankruptcy twice. Furthermore, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter was rejected by 12 major book publishers.
The point is that a distinction between early failure and later success needs to be made as, these examples suggest that those who struggled early are guaranteed to succeed later. To be successful, don’t give up or think that success is made from anything other than your perseverance, hard work, and a little luck. The starving artist is a romanticized idea that is overly false and incredibly misleading. Art can be made from suffering and pain, but it does not always succeed and the suffering of the artist should not be the defining characteristic. Create, because creating is liberating and something that you are passionate about. Do not be deterred because of failure or listen to those who say being an artist is a life of poverty and not being recognized. That is not the case. The idea of the starving artist is not to be glamorized, nor is it a realistic representation of how art is created and facilitated. Forget the idea of the starving artist. Instead of fostering this starving artist troupe or creating a negative connotation of artists, art should be cultivated without this fear of living in poverty.