September 4, 2005
youth and talent
This cartoon has always been a favorite of mine. It kind of sums up the thing all non-successful artists fear the most i.e. growing old.
I like the expression on the guy’s face– a perfect combination of silence, anger, sadness and self-loathing. Anyone who has spent any serious time in bohemian circles will recognize it.
I still have a few great friends from my younger, bohemian days, but for the most part I tend to avoid that crowd like the plague.
I’ve seen too often what happens to people who take the romantic-artist-lifestyle crap too seriously. And I never liked what I saw.
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Hugh MacLeod on youth and talent
I love Hugh MacLeod’s cartoons and his work in general but I especially love this one today.
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Hi Hugh,
a blogger compared my pics & site to yours, so I had to check out. I love the philosophical touch. And I adore the drawings. Living in Germany, yet loving both GB and NY, I will have to read more of your stuff!
cheers
dushan
I remember those people too. Most of them have teaching jobs in art departments of major universities.
They teach eager young college kids how to ruin their marriage and their sweet cushy jobs by being crusty, bitter, old, spoiled has-beens.
I like your blog Hugh but I have to disagree with you on this. If you are a true artist and not someone just adopting aesthetics of one, you should not be concerned whether you’re a success or failure. I have no romantic notions of youth or being some beautiful bohemian type, if I did I would have died a long time ago. A true artist just creates and it’s in him/or her to do just that. If you start worrying about how successful you’re going to be at it, then you’ve totally missed the point and it seeps into your work. I could remain unsuccessful and unoticed my whole life, but I’d be happy that I had the ability to create.
Can we have the “loser toiling away in obscurity” some time soon? I think I need some of your best bitter humour to help me out of a very dark mood. Thanks.
I certainly can see your point, Chris. And a very appealing point it is.
Which is exactly what makes it so bloody lethal, nine times out of ten.
The face really is freakishly perfect on this one.
RE: Chris/Hugh Comments
And a bloody shame about the nine pretenders for the one living their dream?
well this one made my day.
)
I’ve been around my share of ‘un-understood artists’ and aside from their personal failure, i think the contents of their mind is highly over-rated. And their life philosophies (usually plain pessimism) — seems to be based on Heineken rather than Heidegger.
(blink-blink
Burning Both Ends
This pic was inspired by the post Youth and Talent at Gapingvoid.com.
I admire and respect Hugh MacLeod, yet I don’t share all his views. He strongly suggests that an artist should always have a daytime-job which he can fall back upon when ar…