Art and Fear

I just started reading a book that I randomly selected at a library titled Art and Fear. I also randomly picked up another book at a different library and read it. It was really short. It was the English translation of the speech that Alexander Solzhenitsyn gave when he received the Nobel Prize. It was quite fascinating. Both talked a lot about Art...sure, with a capital "A". Alex said art will save humanity. I suppose that has a lot to do with how you define art and humanity.

There can't be anything artistic about me sitting here writing this while there are plenty of other things that need to get done. I must get them done. I'll leave you with this quote:

"'Artist' has gradually become a form of identity which (as every artist knows) often carries with it as many drawbacks as benefits. Consider that if artist equals self, then when (inevitably) you make flawed art, you are a flawed person, and when (worse yet) you make no art, you are no person at all!"

Perhaps this is why I hesitate to call myself an artist.

(I'm going to attempt to not use the word "perhaps" for at least 5 posts.)