OUT OF THE PICTURE
“What a man is begins to betray itself when his talent decreases—when he stops showing what he can do. Talent, too, is finery; finery, too, is a hiding place.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
I was gonna draw anything but another one about “The Couple.” They are, as you well know, Suit and Siren, standing in for Nature vs. Culture (innate vs. learned) or even genericized former bosses and ex-wives. But they decided they needed to be drawn again, and bullied their way to the front of the line. Add to them the “Arteest” who’s as much a stereotype or caricature as they are. What’s new here is that this tiresome threesome now represents talent, hustle, and celebrity.
“[N]othing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent” — Calvin Coolidge
Talent is what you use to make new stuff, an object or an event extended in space, time, or both. This new stuff can have value in itself by having the process of making it or interacting with it worth more than what you might give up to do it. This stuff can be also valued by what you can exchange it for.
Every true hustler knows that you cannot hustle forever. You will go to jail eventually.”
— Christopher Wallace
Hustle is what you use to convince others of your new stuff’s value. Unlike talent, with hustle you make nothing. Yes, you “make” money—hustling is more lucrative than creating “stuff” generally—but don’t you really just collect it, and acquire a bigger share of the money that’s already out there?
“The celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness” — Daniel Boorstein
Celebrity is the acknowledgment by others that an individual is interesting. The term is sometimes used for individuals who don’t really do enough of anything—besides being interesting—to be notorious or respected. But other times it’s the being thought notorious by some and respected by an equal number of others neutralizing each other that makes someone a celebrity. I could name some of each type. but celebrity being what it is I don’t have to, you know who they are already.
Back to the illustration. Both Suit and the Siren have lots of hustle. His hustle plus his talent of “making” money by no particular means (it is the end as well) has gotten him some celebrity. Her hustle plus her talent of reading other hustlers well gets her enough celebrity, it’s second-hand, but she’s good with that.
“Never confuse the size of your paycheck with the size of your talent.” — Marlon Brando
Successful artists are more like the suit than the Arteest in the image. Their innate hustle and talent for “making” money, as much or more via reading other hustlers—and rubes—well, than anything else thereby attracting celebrity makes art talent unnecessary, even contraindicated. Arteest is totally lacking both hustle and celebrity, and his talents (which do not include reading others well) do not make up for those lacks, so he is barely “in the picture.”
But you can see him here, look carefully near the center, in the middle ground of the otherwise empty landscape painting in the illustration of this text. He’s the small group of dark pixels there. Surrounding that canvas on an easel and filling the darker corners of the atelier d’art are many identical portraits of the aforementioned couple.
“From science and the modern still impell’d, / the old, old urge, eidolons.” — Walt Whitman
Were these eidolons created by an artist obsessed like Louis Wain was of cats or were they painted more like William Blake did of his imaginary friends? Better for this artist if the latter. Let him be less psychotic (psycho-delic?) and more willfully creating a therapeutic process. More a Blake with his guiding visions than a Wain with his troubling ones.
“You certainly mistake, when you say that the visions of fancy are not to be found in this world.
To me, this world is all one continued vision of fancy or imagination” — William Blake
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Links I perused (either definition works) when writing this rant/reflection:
Cute Cats and Psychedelia: The Tragic Life of Louis Wain – Illustration Chronicles
Louis Wain | Bethlem Museum of the Mind
A Letter From the Young William Blake in Defense of the Imagination | Faena
Eidolons by Walt Whitman
Eidolons | In the Dark
Eidolon by Leslie Nelson Jennings | Poetry Magazine
William Blake’s I Want! I Want! is an early fantasy of space travel | Art | The Guardian
Romanticism and Fantasy: A Closer Look at William Blake
Imaginary Friends: What Does It Mean, and Is It Normal?
Grownups with imaginary friends may be more prone to hearing voices – Plastic Brain
Famous for Being Famous – Quote Investigator®
The painting in the painting in the painting here is the backside of a canvas, so this show is interesting:
On the Reverse – Exhibition – Museo Nacional del Prado
Prado Show Reveals the Hidden Artworks on the Backs of Masterpieces
