Since the beginning of society, art has been influential in the growth and destruction of it. It defines culture and is the basis of all knowledge we know today, since the days we started painting on the walls of caves. There is no denial of art’s influence. But today, we believe in the segregation and discrimination of art. Every artist has to pigeonhole their creativity into one category, into a single classification, because of society and the restrictions that different platforms have put upon us.
There used to be an age where creative diversity was celebrated. In the renaissance, artists created without restriction. They were painters, sculptors, and illustrators. They were almost expected to do many things, have multiple trades and skills. This isn’t the case today. Artists are forced to be restricted, forced to limit their creativity, forced to live in fear of being judged because they decided to do something different or diversify themselves.
Let me give you an example. I was lucky to have the teachers and mentors that I did. I learned how to sculpt bronze, cut & solder stained glass, illustrate anatomy, and do oil painting before the age of 18. After that, I learn photography (in film & in digital), got my degree in graphic design, and then proceeded to teach myself multiple scripting languages to build websites. And since the age of 13, I learned to compose and produce music, which I am still doing to this day. I also learned how to build cars from my grandfather, engineer things, and build computers at the age of 9. I never gave up on learning. I did however give up on education for awhile there, but that is another story. Naysayers would tell me I was spreading myself thin. They said I would never get anywhere if I didn’t “specialize” in one thing. These people weren’t creatives, they were close-minded, and the problem with society as a whole.
So what am I, what would I consider myself to be as a creative? Well, I kind of fit the saying from Aristotle, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. I am none of these things because I am all of these things. I create because I can. I create because it is life. Art, by definition, is expression. Art is the expression of living. Those that fear expression, are those that fear diversity and difference. If you fear art, you are afraid of culture. If you are afraid of culture, you are part of the problem. Just because you can’t grasp something, just because you don’t understand, doesn’t make it bad. Open your heart and mind to the expression. Be open to culture. Don’t limit yourself. Learn from everyone and everything.