It's Depressing

It's Depressing.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

It's a part of the process.

Physical art, being the stuff that you look at, is pretty easy to reflect upon. When you're done painting a giant squid, you can sit back, pop open a beer and really take in the squid from every angle. You can observe every intricate detail and subtle brush stroke and you can say, "Wow, look at that fucking squid. My squid. I made that squid and it is beautiful." It's an important thing to do when you complete something that you've poured that much emotion and time into. Reflect. It's something every artist should do.

Performing arts, however, are a bit more difficult to reflect on. Sure, you can watch your performance, reenact your dance recital, or listen to your own music... but can you really relive that moment? When you ARE your medium, it gets pretty tough to take yourself in from all angles. It's strange that when I act, afterwards I'm always completely drained. So much goes into doing something so simple as pretending to be someone else to tell a story that it's baffling. So naturally, taking in everything that you just did and processing that information can be extremely taxing. The rewards for doing so, however, are crucial to expanding as a human being as well as an artist. Taking a moment after your performance and quietly absorbing all of the joy, the fear, the frantic mental processes, and the knowledge that you're doing something that you feel extremely passionate about, will open entirely new worlds of opportunity for you.

It's a part of the process.