What powers artists who reach old age? The work
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What powers artists who reach old age? The work
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: What powers artists who reach old age? The work
#2Re: What powers artists who reach old age? The work
#3Or, just not dying
Re: What powers artists who reach old age? The work
#4It's one thing to paint in front of canvas into 80s and 90s, but it's truly remarkable to built large spider sculptures like Louise Bourgeois did at the same ages.
Re: What powers artists who reach old age? The work
#5That makes me think about David Bowie’s last album.
I am pretty neutral on his previous creations. But his last album really resonates in me.
And I wonder how you do feel when you have reached such a level of expertise, and are given an unknown amount of limited time to achieve your last creation.
Re: What powers artists who reach old age? The work
#6My mother is an artist by education, but she didn't pursue a career in art, and opted for being an artisan and practicing art in her spare time. She's now retired and is only occasionally asked to do some part time work.
By her account now is the best time for actual creativity. There's no pressure to stand out and as a long time member of the artist association she can count on some space to show off her work should she wish so, but most of her paintings never see a larger audience because she now paints things that match her taste alone. It's kind of therapeutic really.
She also does sculpture because every painter eventually becomes a sculptor and every sculptor eventually becomes a painter.
People who went down the path of being a career artist are in a generally worse position now, because that's all they know and what they invested all their time in and unfortunately most of them didn't make much of a name for themselves.
Re: What powers artists who reach old age? The work
#7Or, just not dying
Seems like a shallow comment, but it's not. Some (many?) die long before they die physically. These folks retained their vitality long into old age.
Re: What powers artists who reach old age? The work
#8That makes me think about David Bowie’s last album. I am pretty neutral on his previous creations. But his last album really resonates in me. And I wonder how you do feel when you have reached such a level of expertise, and are given an unknown amount of limited time to achieve your last creation.
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Re: What powers artists who reach old age? The work
#9That makes me think about David Bowie’s last album. I am pretty neutral on his previous creations. But his last album really resonates in me. And I wonder how you do feel when you have reached such a level of expertise, and are given an unknown amount of limited time to achieve your last creation.
Have you listened to Brainwashed by George Harrison? It was his last album, knowing he had cancer and had limited time... wondering if you may have similar resonance with that one.