Why is making things, and trying to make them as well as you possibly can, worthwhile? And what is art good for? And how should the artist (in the least pretentious sense of the word) approach his or her work? In every serious conversation about what I’m doing with How to Succeed in Evil, these questions have come up again and again. So I thought I would gather my answers together in an essay. Because they are sane and useful. And these principles have helped me put my life back together after trauma as well as grow and learn and become a better person. My answers might not fit you, and that’s fine, but I do hope you find something in here that you can use.
Making has always been the way I've sorted through my own issues. Challenges deploying a team to meet demand? I took a semester long ceramics class. By the end of the semester I had it all largely figured out to go to the next level. When I get stuck, I back up and tinker. And in the sawdust and shavings, I usually whittle out of my rut.
When making things, a critical theory approach rarely works: within the confines of an endeavour, certain things simply will not work, such as cutting down a tree with a herring. I guess that is why many purported intellectuals avoid creativity and simulate it via imitation.
Building a giant robot certainly does get ya thinking, that's for sure ...
Making has always been the way I've sorted through my own issues. Challenges deploying a team to meet demand? I took a semester long ceramics class. By the end of the semester I had it all largely figured out to go to the next level. When I get stuck, I back up and tinker. And in the sawdust and shavings, I usually whittle out of my rut.
When making things, a critical theory approach rarely works: within the confines of an endeavour, certain things simply will not work, such as cutting down a tree with a herring. I guess that is why many purported intellectuals avoid creativity and simulate it via imitation.
Building a giant robot certainly does get ya thinking, that's for sure ...
I used to be creative, but then I got the internet to supply me with so much escapism that there wasn't enough need for me to create my own.