I am placing Robert Genn's most recent letter here for us to mull over...it is worth discussing this as it is something we talk about often and it is a problem that repeats itself unless we learn to know ourselves.
Work is not work when work is loved. This thought is affirmed by legions of artists
who have no trouble being motivated. Many get themselves started with the expectation
of joy. But hardly one of us hasn't, at some time, lacked the desire to do so. In my
studio, when there's no joy, there's no work. In studying motivation, I've found at
least three prerequisites that must be present: challenge, process, and the feeling of
progress. Without challenge, the muse dies. If an artist underestimates capability or
goes too long with outworn motifs, interest fades and motivation fails. Complexity,
nuance, even novelty, need to be consciously added to the mix.
Process is the actual bit-by-bit activity that causes the work to unfold. Some of
these bits need to be personal and unique. They can be anti-academic. Style-force
develops out of what you're doing wrong, and the result is ego-force. The artist,
having fallen in love with her own process, shouts convincingly, "It's my stuff and
I'm doing it!" The feelings of progress and growth are above feelings of mere change.
Progress brings refinement, evolution, revelation, and exaltation. You see it in the
work, and the work begets work. Even failures become treasured stepping stones to
further progress.
I've always been fascinated by the conundrum of motivation. Why is it that one time
we're full of moxie, and another time we're dead ducks? "Comes with the territory,"
you might say. I've observed that some artists are masochistic and deliberately shoot
themselves in the hand. For others, the idea is to simply become a "master." Masters
master themselves. They know their own habits, good and bad. They keep on keeping on.
There's a tipping point. When masters willfully step into the studio, prime the pump,
understand and embrace the three prerequisites, they may not easily get things
stopped.
Best regards,
Robert
PS: "Desire is the key to motivation." (Mario Andretti)
Esoterica: Desire is more than a wish--it's a craving. When the artist has the feeling
that the work at hand is worthwhile, in and for its own sake--and temporarily safe
from negative input or jaded critique--then the artist simply craves the work for its
own sake. This state of desire often requires the self-delusion and iconoclasm that
isolation provides. In private times, the tender shoots of desire appear and flourish.
And while desire may prime starting, starting also primes desire.
Work is not work when work is loved. This thought is affirmed by legions of artists
who have no trouble being motivated. Many get themselves started with the expectation
of joy. But hardly one of us hasn't, at some time, lacked the desire to do so. In my
studio, when there's no joy, there's no work. In studying motivation, I've found at
least three prerequisites that must be present: challenge, process, and the feeling of
progress. Without challenge, the muse dies. If an artist underestimates capability or
goes too long with outworn motifs, interest fades and motivation fails. Complexity,
nuance, even novelty, need to be consciously added to the mix.
Process is the actual bit-by-bit activity that causes the work to unfold. Some of
these bits need to be personal and unique. They can be anti-academic. Style-force
develops out of what you're doing wrong, and the result is ego-force. The artist,
having fallen in love with her own process, shouts convincingly, "It's my stuff and
I'm doing it!" The feelings of progress and growth are above feelings of mere change.
Progress brings refinement, evolution, revelation, and exaltation. You see it in the
work, and the work begets work. Even failures become treasured stepping stones to
further progress.
I've always been fascinated by the conundrum of motivation. Why is it that one time
we're full of moxie, and another time we're dead ducks? "Comes with the territory,"
you might say. I've observed that some artists are masochistic and deliberately shoot
themselves in the hand. For others, the idea is to simply become a "master." Masters
master themselves. They know their own habits, good and bad. They keep on keeping on.
There's a tipping point. When masters willfully step into the studio, prime the pump,
understand and embrace the three prerequisites, they may not easily get things
stopped.
Best regards,
Robert
PS: "Desire is the key to motivation." (Mario Andretti)
Esoterica: Desire is more than a wish--it's a craving. When the artist has the feeling
that the work at hand is worthwhile, in and for its own sake--and temporarily safe
from negative input or jaded critique--then the artist simply craves the work for its
own sake. This state of desire often requires the self-delusion and iconoclasm that
isolation provides. In private times, the tender shoots of desire appear and flourish.
And while desire may prime starting, starting also primes desire.
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