Pain is like fuel to an artist, like gasoline in the midst of a fire. It isn't to say there are not other sources of inspiration, but very few are as motivating or as intense.
This is why a large portion of art and music and prose and poetry winds up devoted to the darker elements of existence. It comes more naturally.
But like any fuel, pain does not govern the direction you travel. This is the thing we all forget, us artists and musicians all filled with angst. We have the ability, however difficult, to lay claim to our pain and alter it - twist, compress, and change it until it is unrecognizable. We can take pain and from it create beauty, depict happiness and joy.
That's the hard part. Any malcontent can talk about agony - you could almost say it is a natural state for anyone burned by creativity. It takes a very particular sort of inner strength to grasp your torment and force it to become something else, to take what you feel and rip from it - unwillingly - beauty and peace.
Don't get me wrong, darkness has a place in art. It just seems that too often we get stuck there, and forget the rest. It is important, vital really, to be balanced. Without balance, our darkness, or even our light, can burn us out. Staring at naked truths for too long can leave you blinded in more ways than one.
Food for thought.
- C
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