think like an artist
an artist creates from nothing. without a cv, without a proposal, or even guarantee. an artist makes something out of nothing - creates fire from water.
hope. adventure. spontaneously calculated. an artist is a thinker.
an artist is not a painter. a sculptor. one that can draw a face.
when you have a spark or notion and flip that into something tangible - nobody will ever know what it took to get it there. it’s intimate. it’s a connection. it becomes a conversation with yourself.
there is, and never will be such a thing as a cautious creative.
an artist does not think outside the box. there is no box. for the love of pete - please please please stop saying thinking outside the box.
an artist does not care about your weakness or perceived thoughts.
as an artist i leave a little piece of my soul everywhere my work goes. everywhere i go. i infuse change.
how many of us are fans of the show modern family? i am.
i think my kids watched with me mostly to see if i would tear up at the end. i have an all time favorite episode that makes me cry every time. it’s the punkin’ chunk’n episode.
basically, a family argument breaks out over the validity of a story and in the end scene they try to recreate the story of a pumpkin being chunk’d across a football field. . . during the scene - which goes about as well as you can imagine - there is a voice over rhythmically wrapping up the story.
“there are dreamers and there are realists in this world. you'd think the dreamers would find the dreamers and the realists would find the realists, but more often than not, the opposite is true.
you see, the dreamers need the realists to keep them from soaring too close to the sun. and the realists... well, without the dreamers, they might not ever get off the ground.”
i get it - i understand that i’m standing here in front of you representing what you might feel is heavily on the dreamers side. the last thing you need as a group of xxx is some “look at me - dressed artist dude,” telling you he has a better way to think . . .
when i have a group i’m facilitating on a painting execricse, i tell them that the scariest part is the white canvas. i guide them to just get some paint on the canvas. any color. anyway you want.
can you give me few minutes of time to just put a layer or two of color onto your canvas. i’ll help you at least get off the ground. . . and i’ll leave the rest of your journey up to you?
can we do that as a group? lets put down the reality that a slingshot is probably not going to snap a pumpkin across a football field and put our heads together and think of ways that - well, maybe, oh - actually if we have a thing going that does this or that we might be able to . . .
an artist.
is always an artist. (who he says he is)
is present.
is a problem solver.
is surprising - (not just edgy).
is a failure.
is always an artist. (who he says he is)
it’s true, if i wasn’t an artist, i would be an artist. it is all i know.
i can not be an artist for just the working hours of the day and then put on different clothes.
i’m an artist when i make sandwiches. when i get dressed. when i coach soccer.
something I always remember is “be a dishwasher.”
go ahead. pre-rinse that plate.
really?!
what is this, 1984?
are you telling me we can take a phallic rocket in space, start my car with my phone and have ai replace my sears portrait, but i can’t put my plate of spaghetti into the dishwahser without rinsing it? am i correct in that it is called a dishwasher? or is it just misnamed and should be referred to as a dishwetterer?
all of this to say - be what you say you are. if you are going to be a dishwasher - wash the freak’n dishes. if you are going to be a writer - write. if you are going to be a business coach - coach. if you want to be a maker - make. make lots. then make more.
an artist is present - yet in thought.
i remember around a jr. high age one of my dad’s seemingly favorite things to say to me was - “kent - think. . . use your brain son.” and of course he probably had a reason for this outburst. i’m sure to his black and white train of thought i was certainly off the rails. . . he loved to call me “minolta” which (and i’m dating myself here) was a camera brand in the early 80’s that had a tag line of “comes and goes in a flash,” - he like to say that my mind would come and go in a flash.
to be honest this was not my favorite thing my dad did and most of the time it was because my mind was off in the distance. i was thinking about how my silverware could be configured into a table sculpture, how to hid my broccoli in my napkin, or would get lost in thought as to why don zimmer the cud chewing manager of the chicago cubs was dressed in the same uniform as the players. i was always thinking. i am always thinking.
and not just thinking - i’m asking why? for those of you who are parents - do you remember the time frame your kids went through when all they could ask is why? “dad, why is the sky blue? why do dogs bark? why does spaghetti taste like spaghetti - why do we always draw suns with rays?”
at what point in our life do we stop asking questions?
somewhere along the line we start to get embarrassed because we might not know the answers?
so we stop asking questions.
seek curiosity.
asking a question does not mean you don’t know the answer. it is okay to look for a different answer.
asking a question does not mean you are trying to influence someone’s answer. as an artist i am not trying to “teach you my ways”. i am not a yoda like creature. i am simply trying to create a thought pattern in your mind. i’m attempting to make you think. i am the flint to your stone.
and i’m not just thinking with my brain but rather with all of my senses.
i’m a futbal’r. i played the sport since i was about 8 all the way through my 40’s competitively. i started coaching in my early 20’s and coached my son and his traveling teams / friends since he was 8 years old. he ended up being an all american and it’s something i hold very close to me. but what i love most about the real futbol is that it is a thinking sport.
soccer (as we americans call it for some reason) is a reactive thinking - it is fast paced. it is constantly changing. i understand that a majority of you see soccer as a sport where few goals are scored and there are no time outs to go get a snack while you watch - (here’s the funny thing - football is like 21 - 14 and we are like - high scoring! um, it’s 3-2 people).
in futbol, one of the most important skills is receiving the ball - do you know that that is the number one thing that makes you a decent futbol’r vs. an outstanding or a professional futbol’r? its your reception.
your first touch - does your touch allow you to keep the ball or does it put it too far out in front of your opponent for him to steal it.
do you set yourself up for the next touch or do you have to chase after it.
there is this thing called taking the ball off or your standing foot. it’s a technical description for which foot your receive the ball with.
i can watch a professional game and tell you with certainty which foot a player will receive the ball with 95% of the time before he touches it. i can watch an amateur game and guess about half of that. go down levels and that percentage deceases.
how are you able to receive what you observe?
does it bounce away - do you use it for your work?
jerry seinfeld when talking about when he is trying to write material with howard stern joked about how he is “always trying to write material” - he joked that he was never even really present with his family because he was always writing material. it’s both a blessing and a curse.
okay, one more futbol reference. and a second reason why futbol is better than football and considered the beautiful game -
listen to these two examples and tell me which one you would rather listen to on a sunday afternoon. . .
peter drury describing the first time cristiano renaldo stepped back onto the pitch (that’s the field for you baseball is out national pastime and the cowboys are america’s team people). . .
madeira, manchester, madrid, turin, and manchester again.
wreathed in red.
restored to this great gallery of the game.
a walking work of art.
vintage.
beyond valuation, beyond forgery or imitation.
18 years sine that trembling teenager of touch and tease first tiptoed onto this storied stage.
now in his immaculate maturity cr7 re-united
or - how about troy aikmen describing a football play.
josh bynes has been coming all night but right now he pulls out, it’s just hard - its been a while since he’s seen a hole that big. he didn’t know what to do.
if you are observing with all of your senses - then chances are so are those around you.
appeal to their pallet. you might not know which is their strongest - so try to hit them all.
an artist remembers the moment without their phone out. the full panoramic view. the tingle. the smell. the sound. all of that is missed with your damn phone in your hands. all of it. want to pull the ultimate flex. - don’t flex. be the one on the photo without your camera. remember it. all the details. we have lost that. everyone close their eyes - go to someplace when you were around 10 years old. i’m on a baseball field. i’m scared. it was a stadium from what i can remember and conjur up in my memory. i was the first batter. i was nervous. i can smell the dirt. i can hear my dad. the catcher smack his mitt. i hear the umpires shin guards crack as he bends. i think i grounded out to the shortstop. i actually remember a lot from that game. i remember i can play. i don’t have to be nervous. i don’t remember the score. but there was a parking lot behind the field. the grass was super green. the bases the hard rubber kind.
what details can you place in your memory. what tiny details are important?
an artist picks those details. those moments. a camera does not. holding a camera takes all of those senses away. it blinds. it deafens.
