Certain artists are unable to develop because they are disconnected from history. To me development is paramount. I think that development and humility go hand in hand.
-Sean Scully
Do we expect, rather, that successful development demands arrogant self-certainty? On reflection perhaps not, for arrogance implies that an artist knows dogmatically how to proceed, while humility involves productive acknowledgment of deep uncertainty.
-David Carrier, in Sean Scully
Steve:
Interesting post. It might help if I/we had a reference example of the “arrogant self-certainty” that Mr. Carrier mentions.
We have all run into people who make a big entrance but are full of uncertainties. Then there are others,like Marcel Duchamp, who make assertive gestures, but whose personalities may not be an issue.
Steve,
I have a prejudice about _other_ artists — I really like them to have humility. And humor. (That might be why I like A&P….)
However, here the question is not about others but about how we continue in the face of an indifferent world and often scant recognition of what we do. Worse (I’m starting to sound like Karl) Even our successes require that we start from scratch, again, and try to better the last success. Ultimately this is an impossible task, and so we die.
I think that secretly every artist should have a base of self-confidence. That may morph into arrogant self-certainty but it’s a necessity given the uncertainty of what we are attempting to do.
There’s a contradiction between our outer appearances (“she said humbly with a smile”) and our inner strengths.
And oddly enough, when I read Scully I found myself thinking of him at times as opaquely arrogant. Not always, you understand, and I liked some of what he wrote. But at other times I wanted to tell him to “get off it.”
Now “history” — that’s a different matter entirely and fodder for another post.
June,
I think you have it bang-on. How to combine that base of self-confidence with the willingness to learn (from history and contemporaries) and change…that’s the hard part. Perhaps it’s good to recall that the two are not necessarily contradictory.
My idea with this post was just to share a short something I came across that might be interesting for others or relate to topics we’ve discussed (like influence). Others are invited to do the same at any time.