“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it.” This comes from “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield, and appeared in this blog posting by a New York holistic psychotherapist named Peter Loffredo, whose clients tend to be creative professionals. It was brought to my attention my friend and creative professional named Meghan Scibona, who found it worth sharing.
“To labor in the arts for any reason other than love is prostitution,” is another line from Pressfield highlighted by Loffredo. It’s a good one, though my sense is that these quotes lack the impact that Pressfield’s book might have as a whole if I were to read it. Although I also sense that the book could just be irritating. But I’m not going to judge a creatve professional’s work that I haven’t even read. I’m posting to pose a question:
Have you read “The War of Art”? I haven’t, but I was pretty sure that it was an ancient classic about actual, blood and guts warfare. (I’m easily confused by play on words.) If you have read THIS book, do you recommend it, and why? If you haven’t read this book, can you recommend others that deal with this topic: inherit struggle of mixing ones art with making one’s keep.
I ask you this because this is a theme I am enmeshed in. Besides being a creative professional myself – definitely not in it for the big paychecks – I often interview creative professionals at length about the intersection of their lives, their art and their efforts to make money. And it seems this topic is becoming far more important and stressful for photographers in particular with this (yes, you know) intersection of digital technology and difficult financial times.
In his post, Loffredo talks about spending years “exploring the nature of crativety . . .and addressing the various internal forces that can block its fullest expression.” Sounds like good stuff. I might interview this guy. But then later he notes, “You’re not doing it for the money, but neither are you refusing the money.” This sounds good, but seems too passive for professional photographers, who need to seek out money with a passion, improving business skills, even if they are “not doing it for the money.” After all, we are all certainly trying to put food on the table – an expression I’ve heard from more than one photographer recently – even if we are completely passionate about image making.
In the end, I don’t have a strong point to make here. I’m not trying to pass on simple motivational words of wisdom from Loffredo or Pressfield or even Sun Tzu. But the topic is a critical one, if elusive, and I’d like to hear from you ACMetaforum readers. Any thoughts on “The War of Art” or anything remotely related you’d like to share? Just for the chance to give.