Anatomy studies by Michelangelo. The great artist’s final notes to his student upon his death famously relayed these instructions: “Draw Antonio, Draw. Don’t waste time.”
Living today we’re all too obsessed with constant and endless acquisition — be it wealth, knowledge, pleasure or even spirituality. And, if that isn’t enough, we also want it all as soon as possible chasing that ever-ticking clock that ultimately marches us towards our doom. Yes, it seems morbid and it seems mad. We drive so hard to reach the end yet we fear the end. Oh, the cognitive dissonance of modern man! So naturally, our mechanical mind’s cunning solution to our dilemma is to turn our energies towards optimization — the idea of achieving peak efficiency — to get the most of whatever we do usually by looking for this trick or that gimmick, so we can get it done, and get ahead. (Get ahead of who you might ask? That’s a good question.) Of course, this is all very silly, as we should all know about the fallacy of efficiency. Trying to avoid inefficiency is inefficient. Trying to be optimal simply isn’t optimal.
“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand.” — Henry David Thoreau
When we focus on cutting corners, we’re not focused on the main task at hand, instead we’re focused on the corners. We might get the thing done but it will have been done poorly. It’s small picture thinking. This is the artist who “brilliantly” meets quota with barely “acceptable” quality and, while he may receive praise for his productiveness, he will only be known for his hi-speed mediocrity and thus, will ultimately end up on the chopping block because he’s simply not very good. The more we focus on the end, the quicker the end comes. Hence, we must be careful what we wish for! The advent of artificial intelligence, which will replace the aforementioned mechanical-minded worker in short time, comes to mind as machine learning makes its way into human civilization. Primarily developed for its ability to by-pass the process and get results more profitably, AI will soon completely change the socio-economic landscape rendering the machine-man completely obsolete because anything he can do, AI will do it better, faster and cheaper.
In a machine world, all the “workings” of work will be gone, but so, too, will the understanding and skill acquired from doing the work. Why animate/design/draw or make music when when AI can do it for you? We get the product, save the energy and forget about the trouble, including the know how. But besides losing our abilities, we’ll also lose the joy of doing the work and the sense of accomplishment afterwards. Furthermore, machine-like processes tend to yield machine-like results: they are predictable, consistent and lifelessly bland. Think franchise hamburgers or flat-packed furniture that takes the consumer 4 hours to put together. But perhaps it won’t matter, because soon enough we miggt lose the ability to tell the difference. It’s sad really, because when we optimize, we skip the middle, which is, of course, the present — the place where we live and learn and find joy and meaning to our actions. Instead, we go right from past to future. From birth to death. Nothing in the middle. And nothing is more optimizing than a machine, especially a super intelligent one.
“It’s life that matters, nothing but life—the process of discovering, the everlasting and perpetual process, not the discovery itself, at all.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Now, if we don’t try to optimize, what then? Well, we can avoid becoming machine-like if we focus on the present and try to keep things simpler, slower and smaller doing things with care and attention instead of trying to optimize our methodologies. This means not just simplification of the tasks or goals we’re set on doing but elimination of whatever items on the list that ultimately don’t matter. We must stop wasting time and energy on trying to save time and energy; we must give up trying to control everything. So stop looking for the perfect techniques on how to do your work better without the work or that new technology that’s supposed to save you time. Stop searching for that perfect advisor, website, program or guru that will give you the secrets to becoming happier, richer or more spiritual — most of them are just after your money. I’ve seen art students jump from school to school, mentor to mentor and at the end find little and learned even less. I’ve been personally told this many such “searchers.” It reminds of my old kung fu colleagues who collected fighting styles like people collected baseball cards — I found most of them not even half-competent at even the most basic of techniques. And in art and animation today, it’s astonishing how few people can draw well or even know basic artistic anatomy.
“It’s not the style of the martial art that matters, it’s the martial artist.” — Yip Man
Instead, focus on doing the right things and doing it the right way (which will be revealed to you when you stop searching). It’s about wanting less and devoting fully to the things that we REALLY want. We all know how easy it is to be caught up with the thinking that there’s too much to do and so little time. But this isn’t reality. Historically speaking, human productivity has never been higher. Often times I hear how bored people are; now how can someone be both bored and too busy? The truth is we want too much, fear too much and worry about too many things that simply aren’t important. Wasting time online or television are easy examples (and this partly explains my absence on this blog since more computer time was the last thing I needed) but worrying about what people say, flipping out over mindless trivia or politics, obsessing over money and mere material things is truly a waste of energy. Do less and you won’t have to optimize, which is just another fancy word for taking a shortcut. Because ultimately, optimization is a hoax, it’s looking to the outside for answers, trying to control what you really can’t.
“Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.” — Marcus Aurelius
I suspect we struggle with juggling things in our lives because we struggle to acknowledge reality. We drop the ball instead of putting them down. We don’t want to accept responsibility for the state of our world or for the state of ourselves. We look but do not see. We want the skill but don’t want to put in the effort. We want to know but don’t want to listen. We’re afraid to be truly authentic. We do things we dislike because we “have to” and then try to make up for it through escape into mindless entertainment and/or other pleasures. It’s conflict piled on top of conflict. In other words, our activities in its totality don’t amount to anything that has any sort of meaning or deep satisfaction; and if we continue in that way — work or toil for fifty years (periodically interrupted by an assortment of addictions/vacations) then hope to find something to do that might make us happy and keep us alive when we retire. It’s completely non-sensical. But we keep doing it, and we keep passing on the same rules of the game — along with our anxieties and fears — to our loved ones, to our children. It’s an ugly irrational rinse and repeat. This is the price of not designing our lives that align with our inner selves. All we have to do is look around and we know this to be true. Old age does not equate to actual maturity, it’s just old age. Wisdom is not guaranteed to come with the experience.
“Eternity belongs to those who live in the present.” —Ludwig Wittgenstein
At the end of the day, where and how we pay attention is reflected in the quality of our lives. Therefore, the real work, the good honest and fun work, is in really looking and listening, especially within ourselves. Living in the moment and responding to the moment with humility and grace. We do that, and we’ll be ok: we’ll know what to do with our lives, in each and every moment. Freedom comes not from having more choices, but listening to that clear choice that comes from within (and hence is universal.) Then, all other options become obsolete. Elimination is a very powerful cleanser of the mind and body — it leaves us room to observe and learn. If I’m honestly hungry, I’ll eat. My body knows. If I feel like painting, I paint. Personally, I don’t worry about optimizing my efforts because my efforts will be sincere; that’s all I can ask of myself. Why do art if our effort is to be half-hearted? Why waste the time? Optimization, whether in our work as artists, or as humans simply living, is an illusory goal, a gimmick sold to those who are constantly striving and seeking to achieve the “maximum” in their life but ironically only end up living half of one.
In closing, I leave you with this timeless poem by Kahlil Gibran:
“Do not love half lovers Do not entertain half friends Do not indulge in works of the half talented Do not live half a life and do not die a half death If you choose silence, then be silent When you speak, do so until you are finished Do not silence yourself to say something And do not speak to be silent If you accept, then express it bluntly Do not mask it If you refuse then be clear about it for an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance Do not accept half a solution Do not believe half truths Do not dream half a dream Do not fantasize about half hopes Half a drink will not quench your thirst Half a meal will not satiate your hunger Half the way will get you no where Half an idea will bear you no results Your other half is not the one you love It is you in another time yet in the same space It is you when you are not Half a life is a life you didn’t live, A word you have not said A smile you postponed A love you have not had A friendship you did not know To reach and not arrive Work and not work Attend only to be absent What makes you a stranger to them closest to you and they strangers to you The half is a mere moment of inability but you are able for you are not half a being You are a whole that exists to live a life not half a life”
Agnes Martin, one of the foremost pioneers of Minimalism, produced work that was immensely sensitive and devoutly true to her philosophy of life.
“The function of artwork is the stimulation of sensibilities, the renewal of memories. Moments of perfection.” — Agnes Martin
To be a proper artist, that is, to be one that is completely devoted to his craft, he must attain and retain his utmost sensitivities. Unfortunately, in a society rooted in competition and obsessed with both security and success, this makes for a difficult challenge. To be sensitive today is to imply weakness of body, mind and character. Our intensely commercial society, which continually advocates the building of strength, position and power, heavily endorses the often ruthless idea of being meaner and tougher than everyone else. It seems to say that this is the way — and the only way — to find security, respectability and happiness. This is hardly debatable anywhere worldwide. We generally fear being vulnerable for the vulnerable are seen as prey. In fact, we have divided society into a place of winners and losers. We call this concept meritocracy, which implies that only the strongly conscientious and intelligent succeed, and if you don’t succeed, you must therefore be lazy, stupid or undeserving. And hence, to be sensitive or vulnerable means being justifiably exposed to attack, ridicule and being cast side or ostracized.
And it is no longer just the world of corporate business or politics that displays such a mindset. This has been extended into the world of the arts; it is no longer uncommon for people in positions of authority to bully or belittle artists below them in public standing rather than to support and help those needing of experienced advice. But aside from being unnecessarily cruel or unethical, this kind of non-inclusive mindset actually empties the work place of genunie discovery and creativity. It is not surprising that in larger and more competitive environments, there’s less and less risk-taking and originality. Contrary to common economic parlance, fear does not invite innovation. It might introduce novelty through convoluted efforts and clever marketing schemes but generally nothing new is ever created. Fear destroys the sensitive creative gift which can only take form in stability and security. The artist has to draw from deeply within and this requires precisely the ability to be sensitive in order to make good on his work. Genuinity and true authenticity can only make its way out when it’s welcoming to do so. In fact, it takes much courage even when the coast is clear. Just as it takes much greater strength to be kind and empathetic than it is to be cynical and critical, it actually takes as much courage or more to be vulnerable and risk failure or ridicule. Many people think that art is a merely superfluous “selfish” activity without realizing that the exact opposite is true; to make art is a forward movingact of humanity that sacrifices all the convenience, approval and security every human being needs to survive both physically and psychologically. To be a fulltime artist, especially one that is doing the truly uncommon, is a courageous and committed act of generosity for society.
You can’t move forward without being vulnerable – Phil Stutz
Furthermore, art is about relationships; the visual language of the craft is only understood and used effectively when we see the relationships between things. Shapes, lines, colors, movements etcetera matter on their own as much as they do each other and it’s their relative placement, size and frequency that create form, rhythm, balance, and texture for compositions to be actually interesting. The artist who only sees things in isolation can not produce anything of appeal or impact. In environments where fear dominates, artists tend to think and see in isolation because he’s entirely obsessed with end results, namely security and approval. He loses both insight and practice of the process. This is both obvious and obviously destructive.
Therefore, the artist shouldn’t fight or will his way through this work but instead look and listen to it. He must empty his mind of his preconceived notions of success or perfection. He can’t be overly concerned with his own insecure ego-self nor think of making work that is to conform to someone else’s ideas.
“I think it’s terribly dangerous for artists to fulfill other people’s expectations… they generally produce their worst work.” — David Bowie
Remember, the true artist is never hoping to gain materially in his work; he is hoping to discover and learn about himself and that can only happen when the artist enquires with his eyes and ears set to their highest, most acute levels of sensitivity. It is only with such intense attention that he can possibly make out what it is that is required of him. When I paint, for example, I often sit in front of my canvas — which is often as large as 10 feet in width — for a long time, asking it what it wants. It’s a submission to higher forces. I do not order it around. No will is involved. And there is no struggle, because that actually gets in the way, for that, too, is noise. I simply look and listen. I believe that is where the real hard work is.
“Have I not become more and more aware latterly that the things I deeply desire come without struggle? … All the struggle, then, is phantom play. The fighting with shadows. This I know.” — Henry Miller
If you’re an animator, much of the hard work is in the preparation. All the play, exploration, looking, and searching is the springboard for discovery. Then the process repeats itself again during actual animation. One can not just proceed mindlessly because some work has been done. The work — the art — is alive and always changing. Each new line, shape, movement, alters the entire piece. Change one thing and the entire composition and feeling is altered. This much the artist must understand and be constantly aware of. Now, if we are wasting our energy worrying about ours or other people’s preconcieved ideas of success or outcome how can we possibly do our work well? One must keep his mind clear, free and sensitive. It may sound strange, but we must first be open to receive in order for us to give.
“Our ideas and beliefs are what limits possibilities.” — Albert Einstein
