We have all at one time suffered at the hands of procrastination. A tardy bill gone late fee, a litter box gone toxic, and for most of us, a childhood dream turned dust by the daily grind.
There is a constant struggle in our minds between the idea of our perfect future and the work we have to do now to get us there. The fantasy is ecstasy, a forever dream where we can be our perfect selves. We imagine ourselves rich, popular… happy. The work is hard, starting is hard, and every step in a direction toward a dream is a step toward more work and the vast unknown.
The ego is fragile. Starting something new is scary. You may be judged unfavorably. You might fail. The procrastination wheel keeps spinning and your dreams, your art keeps waiting. Days, years, lifetimes all passing by in an ever steepening blur.
Here’s a cold truth. Your art cannot wait. Your spirit and the world are waiting for you to make manifest your unique perspective of what our species can do. Your creative expressions must be shared. Show us what you’ve got!
It is commonly felt that art cannot be forced, that it must flow naturally from play in a sacred space, and there is not one artist among the many with whom we’ve spoken that would deny the strength of this sentiment, but there is more to it.
After you have shaped and polished your idea into reality, you have to release it from the warm and comfortable place of its genesis unto the world. Your creation becomes art in its release to a larger audience.
As an artist, releasing your work for the world to see, you will experience an inescapable feeling of deep vulnerability. Not everyone will vibe with you. Not everyone will like what you have to say or show. That’s ok. Show more people.
As an artist, you will experience an odd feeling of immortality. You’ve taken your idea, your dream, and you’ve released it to the world. The feeling of having contributed to the vast multiverse of ideas can never be taken away from you.
Breath that in, and go make more art.
We traversed all over Las Vegas seeking out art galleries. This adventure, unlike some of our others, took us to many different places across many scattered days; here are some of those places: University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery and Barrick Art Museum, the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art (BGFA), The Jeff Mitchum Gallery, and other established galleries along the row shops in front of the Aria resort and casino, Emergency Arts (sadly, now closed), and Sin City Gallery inside the Art Square.
Las Vegas is perhaps, for most, little known as a place where you might think to find a happening art scene, and it’s true that many places that have dedicated their space to the arts have found themselves too quickly boarding up their windows and barring their doors, but as you might imagine, the art survives and thrives because where there are people, there is art.
The Las Vegas art scene has been described to be in its infancy, but is nevertheless pervasive and a part of the history and culture of this globally renowned city. Indeed, you may not notice that you are walking by the works of world famous historic and contemporary artists as you meander through the Aria. You might not know that you can go to the Loius Vuitton shop and ask to be put on a waiting list to see their private collection of fine art. You may have even mistook a large commissioned mural for common street art, but don’t be fooled; Las Vegas has art!
We walked and gazed, acting as empty vessels absorbing eclectic beauty of artists old and new. The art hung, stood, and sometimes even danced in quiet air, and under carefully arranged lighting. Our vision was filled with short biographies about distant, and sometimes long past artists. Names, ages, locations.
Some works featured delicately stated verses alongside the materials used: innovation as the hallmark of creation, clay, rhythm-strokes simulating spontaneous moments, mixed media, simple, honest and at times, idyllic, oil on canvas. We felt that the art galleries’ flavor of attention, unlike the earthy flavor of attention found at the first Friday festival, poignantly emphasized a more acute aspect of complex work products.
The work that hung in the galleries was often selected, curated to tell a story. A story about “the divide between town and country” during the late 19th century, or a story about the oddities of “history” as a means of recording the past. We want to take a moment to honor the curators themselves for their hard work in delicately choosing pieces that weave together artistic representations of ideas that can be easily viewed as larger than the ideas of the individual works themselves. Thank you for hand picking the trees to show us the forest. Truly, our heads swam with wonderment as we experienced the unique beauty of listening to a story told through art.
We dove deep with this adventure. Every time we finished with one gallery, we wanted to rush off to the next because we recognized that each gallery held rich works that were simultaneously portals into the distinctive views of individuals, and representations of our local and global culture.
A message sang out to us through the timeless aether; Your art cannot wait. Live your art so that your art may live. Share it with the world.
Are you creating unique works and holding them back from the world? Share your thoughts in the comments section below, or maybe just let us know how we can do better.
Thank you for reading. Episode 6 »