Being Original
With a media that often displays material that is marketable and commercialized, it can be difficult to remain consistent and true to yourself and that may affect your art. However, if you’re going to make a meaningful impact as an artist, you need to remain true to yourself. Whether anyone likes your material is not your choice - whether you’re genuine with your art or not is.
Success found in copying other artists is limited. You can never be better than the original artist, unless you are original yourself. Working in the vein of another will always put you in the shadow of the one who did it first. Some artists find success because they are able to emulate some aspect of the idiosyncrasies from artists they admire. However, your working space for success becomes small and limited to the ability to emulate what someone else made popular.
How can you be original?
It’s not easy. Many artists may claim to be independent of public opinion, but it’s impossible to avoid critics, whether positive or negative. While we are free to believe whatever we want of ourselves, it’s hard to obtain complete freedom of opinion without risking the chance of being antisocial or displaying egomania. If you don’t have a references point, then who’s to say you are right or wrong - good or bad?
To ground oneself in God is the best way to find freedom in being, without risking damage to others or getting out of touch with reality. In a world of free-thought and opinion, when everything becomes relative, it can become a dangerous place with no limits or restrictions on the definitive. We need grounding so we know what is right and wrong. We need to know why we are moving in a certain direction.
Personally, I’m free to be myself and original because I know I’m free within the confines of my nature in God - I’m safe to do so. I don’t need to be popular to be accepted or to be “successful” in the way the world views me. To be successful is to live a life that’s meaningful in God. I’m free to be myself and be original without that being contingent upon commercial success or how anyone else thinks about my work.
Finding peace within the way you live is the greatest possession you can have. All the fame and fortune in the world doesn’t compare to having a clean conscious, clear mindset, and definite direction. For more related information, please read How To Be Effective As An Artist.
