This article is meant to be a kind of artist encouragement, a compilation of video stories from other artists to bring inspiration, hope and support for those creative people struggling with their work, with their career. Because it’s known that choosing to be an artist is maybe an easy choice but “succeed” doing it is one of the hardest paths in life.
Although maybe we should first check what means “success” at different levels: social, economical, personal, etc. From my point of view the word “success” has been perverted in a really twisted way and that’s why so many people, artists or not, struggle in life. I personally believe that succeed at personal level should be the only real important thing, to achieve whatever you want just for the shake of doing it, feeling satisfied knowing you made it, making dreams come true. And then all the rest should follow… But I know it’s hard to validate this if no one knows your work or you don’t have any income to keep moving forward. Anyway this article is not about discussing priorities, I take for granted that you decided to follow this path and are committed to your creation.
There is this common feeling of “nothing is moving forward” or “I don’t know why I’m doing this for”, said in other words: Getting lost. Sometimes the best way to find the path back to your dream is to look at other artists, could be those that you admire to and find out that they struggled too. Realizing that we all struggle one way or another is not gonna resolve your problems, but I think it’s gonna give you an extra amount of energy to keep fighting for whatever you want.
So, in the last years I have been collecting videos from artists I respect, telling their own experiences. I don’t care if it’s music, photography, video, design or writing. For me what matters is the act of creation, the passion and faith put into that thing that makes you happy, that makes you feel alive, or that makes you trip out of this world. This is what we live for, right?
Beside this compilation of stories I will publish a second part entitled “Encouragement [for life]” because beside being artists we are human beings, just life can be hard enough and we all need that little push to keep moving forward.
Shigeto
Zachary Shigeto Saginaw, aka Shigeto, heralds from Detroit, Michigan, and is a musician who tests the confines of electronic music through his myriad of sounds and influences. In this video we can see the human side and the insides of a “successful” musician, his fears, his doubts, his great moments…
Marilyn Minter
Minter is a multimedia artist, using video, photography, painting, etc. to create surreal and sensual universes. In this direct an honest video tells about the continuous fight for keep moving forward in the art world, the failures, the achievements, sometimes the gender discrimination, but still pushing. What a great joy to hear the stories coming out of her mouth.
Lubomyr Melnyk
I love this testimony from Lubomyr Melnyk, genius pianist publishing on Erased Tapes. His personal story about having nothing but just a piano and his music is indeed inspiring. It reminds me something I experienced by myself: Sometimes you have to risk everything for that thing you love, you have to prove over and over that you really want it, and then, only then it will work out.
Leif Podhajsky
Maybe the lightest video of this compilation, but still that connection between nature, creation and spiritual feeling is for me a good artist encouragement, a good inspiration. I personally admire and love Leif Podhajsky‘s work, like an example to follow, so getting to see this human portrait and his motivation gave me that feeling of kindred spirit.
Clark Little
The story of Clark Little is one of those about someone just doing what he loves and from one day to the next getting all attention and success. The thing is… You never know when the “wave” is gonna kick, so you better be ready to surf it, by just keep on working.
Chuck Palahniuk
My beloved Chuck… He was for a long time my favorite writer, I devoured all his early novels and always felt inspired. It turned out that he is as inspiring in person as in his writing, so I enjoyed watching his talks because they are not only entertaining but also encouraging. This one is nearly one hour long, but I truly recommend it!! There you will find great advices to be a writer, but also works for any kind of creative storytelling.
Charlie Chicken
Wait… You don’t know Charlie Chicken? haha 😀 Just kidding. Some humor for ending this post, because a dog can be an artist too! So they can suffer the same problems and doubts about their careers as we do, right?
