We live in a capitalist world. One that so often encourages creativity but stifles it within the same sentence. A world that needs people who think outside of the box but only offers support inside of it. Something I have become increasingly aware of as I age is the pressure on "creatives" to create. I know there was once a reality without social media. I realize that there was a time before people were a brand. Lastly, I admit that a large majority of people on this planet will never understand the burden that comes with a desire to be recognized but not exploited. I for one, do not understand. I don't, and probably won't ever, know this type of stress. I won't know the weight artists are under because I have never had the inclination to become one. Regardless, I haven't been able to help but notice the CRUSHING demands we place on creative minds in this age.
For the sake of this article, I will refer to all creatives as artists whether they are musicians, writers, painters, directors, etc. When artists don't create enough, we demand more. When they create "too often" the value of their work often decreases. When they create on a deadline or for a predetermined reason we call them copouts. When they don't we say they think they are "too good" for commissioned work.
When artists create something we are not fond of, we drag them through the virtual mud on every platform we can find. When they come up with something we admire we give them praise in any way we can think of. When artists create new techniques we call them "wannabes" and when they create with a style already widely known we call them "unoriginal". My point is that there are very few ways for creatives to please the masses and stay true to their art.
The problem with creating in a society that values goods more than it values people is that art becomes survival for the artists. People start creating to live instead of living to create. Commodifying creativity places a monetary worth on work that doesn't have an inherent value to all people. And unfortunately, that can be hurtful to artists. I realize that it is often hard for us to think outside of the realm of dollar value but imagine just for a minute that all artists had the opportunity to create without the threat of debt, homelessness, or hateful criticism. Imagine if there was no competition in the art world and people realized that there cannot be too much art or too many creatives. Imagine if society stopped trying to convince us that creatives would stop creating if they didn't have deadlines because I promise they wouldn't.
I think that we could all benefit from looking at art and seeing the creator behind it. I know that we could all help creatives prosper by throwing less meaningless criticism their way and replacing it with support.
