Art & Fear – Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking is a small, concise and wonderful book about the process of making art.
The authors write about what Art is about, where it is going, how it gets made and who or what stands in the way of getting there. They manage to pull this off in a completely non-dogmatic manner which makes this book very enjoyable to read.
Basically they describe what artists feel during the different stages of creating art. This might sound redundant because any artist already knows what he feels. But reading about these feelings truly helps to really understand and, thus, deal with them.
What did I learn from this book?
I learnt that I am not alone. That my doubts, my troubles and pains in the process of making art are not only widespread among artists but also part of the process. I learnt to understand, accept and even embrace the doubts I have about myself while trying to create art. And this, in turn, helps me to get rid of these doubts. It makes the whole process of writing songs (creating art) painless, no matter how hard I struggled before.
Would I recomment this book?
I would definitely recommend Art & Fear to anyone who is creating art, no matter what kind of genre or discipline. I think it holds a whole bunch of keys to overcoming your doubts and pains in the endeavour to create art and it might well save your career or path as an artist and stop you from quitting art. This book is priceless.
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