isolation and loneliness

[jOe~]

as a last alternative there is always ritualised murder, I have heard that work for others

Its attempted here on the forums regularly. Nothing more gruesome than assassinating someones opinions that aren't properly fortified. Nasty business this mano-a-mano.

[rika]

Originally Posted by jOe~

Nothing more gruesome than assassinating someones opinions that aren't properly fortified. Nasty business this mano-a-mano.

That's why so few of us left?

[outsider]

I think there are so few people left here because Oscar hasn't been around stirring y'all up! Where'd that rascal go?

As for the loneliness, if you can't stand the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen! You weren't meant to be a sculptor! On the other hand, the 20-30 year old artists are banding together in all the cities. They are forming co-ops, collectives, etc,. What I'm seeing is that these groups are providing lots of camaraderie but are producing just plain lousy mediocre work. Make the decision! What's more important, your work or friends? On the other hand again, apparently, the culture is slipping so much that when the 20 year old non-artists get older and start buying art, they won't understand the good stuff and will instead buy that lousy mediocre crap.

So move to the city. Join an art collective. Share a building with 50 other artists and have a cubicle 300 sq ft studio. Talk to your friends and collective members a lot. Concentrate on your art for the week before the collective has their 2-3 times a year show. You will feel empowered as an artist but won't have to suffer in the least bit. Your work will suck but then again so does everyone's work from those around you. You'll be happy, well adjusted, and will vote regularly. Society will feel victorious that those questionable sorts of artists who actually think and think for themselves are becoming extinct.

[Lady Fingers]

For my graduating piece at art school i managed to score a cellar space on campus in which to create a site specific sculptural installation. The building above required quiet, and what I needed to do made a lot of noise, so I worked after hours for 9 mths. I rarely saw anyone, because they slept when I worked and visa versa, and I worked my butt off. it was a seriously creepy space too with a dark history.

one night I fell backwards into a deep trench i'd dug, pulling a big pile of heavy duty rio on top of me, as well as the 40 kg pole driver I was lifting above my head (thus the loss of balance cos I'm a little thing really). it was about 3 o'clock on a saturday am, so no one around till monday. I lay there as the dust settled, my leg in a weird position thinking this could be very bad.

I was ok, some pretty spectacular bruises, which soon faded.
Took me a lot longer to recover from the isolation and feel connected. I eventually set myself an equal-sized project which forced me back into the world, lots of community engagement - that did the trick.

[denise lassaw]

Greetings from Alaska
Being an artist means spending a lot of time working, working alone- but you need to make balance in your life, take a walk, go to cafes after work, or galleries. Don't get burned out...balance in all things. A lot of inspiration can come from interaction with people/life/events etc.
Coming from the NYC 1950's art world I can tell you all those artists partied- A LOT !! Days spent in solitude, evenings, especially weekends on the go.
Find your balance you'll be fine
Denise

[Ben Weaver]

I used to work in a fine art foundry, and would find this to be the case with a number of sculptors. They would come in with an obvious need for connection and social interaction. I have since left that community to work in the museum industry, and I would suggest (depending on where you live) changing studio space to a building of artists, becoming a docent at a local museum, teaching a class, and/or continuing to engage in the online art community. I am also a member of Meseon which is out of Spain, and they seem to have a lot of connections between artists. It might also be valuable to have periods of intense work and independent goals intermixed with short 2week periods of time without sculpting at all-or trying to find short residencies abroad.

[Scout]

outsider, that was funny, yeah, where is Oscar?

As for working in a group... I can't do it. I need and want solitude. I do need feedback on my work, that's why I like the forums. Not that we get a lot of feedback about our work but when one needs information, there are some very generous artists here.

I also miss Merlion. He has just finished an exhibition. Congrats Merlion! Scout

[Ries]

I think that it totally depends on the personality of the artist.
I know some artists who are total loners, who hate humanity- and they still are crummy artists.
I know other artists who are social butterflys- always at the right party, on everybody's facebook friend list.
And then, while nobody is looking, they pull 60 hours a week in the studio, and do amazing work.


And, of course, vice versa.

Some people are social, some are not.
It has absolutely NOTHING to do with how productive they are, how inspired their artwork is, or how successful they are.

One of the biggest name artists I have met around here, someone who shows internationally at all the best museums, is a brand name around the world- he is totally incapable of functioning around human beings. Even the people who he pays hate him. He has to have buffers between him and most of the art world, curators, collectors, and such, as he is so obnoxious he would drive em away otherwise.

And then, I have met other, equally successful artists, who could talk a pig into a ham sandwich, who are always the life of the party. Who are just LOVED by everybody who meets em.

As for social ability having anything to do with work ethics- again, I know both sides- people who crank it out, and never change their underwear or brush their teeth, who never leave their cave, and people with the most amazing work ethic who drop into every opening and every party, although only for a few minutes.