The Artists’ block.

 

Any person within the creative arts can find themselves stuck. It’s a block, just like the very common writers block, an artist hits a brick wall just the same.  The tension is building and reality begins to gain power over ones personal loss of creativity, but why? Pressure? Disbelief? Failure? You feel defeated, useless, you begin to question your creative ability.  Your mind is focused on something you have no power over.  You are a passionate artist, writer or filmmaker and the frustration that the block can bring can be overwhelming.  A good example is to imagine a brain full of so many ideas it’s going to overload and blow up! All these ideas have no direction, no brief to follow.

 

The only way to overcome ‘The block’ is to challenge it. It’s much easier to say than do I agree.  Turn it around, throw all your energy into the true potential you know you have. Write it down, sweat it out, draw it, sing it, and scream it if you have to! The block is following a lost direction, and it is fully chained with a padlock. The key to open it is within it.

 

I know so many creative people that through time and circumstances have lost their passion for the arts, it saddens me and even scares me to death sometimes. The passion has been pushed aside, and they have been forced to drive their lifestyle into a more convenient sector.

 

Imagine what the block would look like if it were to be staring you in the face, literally smirking at you. (You would probably want to punch it at this point!) But this way you will figure out the answer, the key to unlock it is to use it.  Turn it into a piece of artwork, a film, or a story, anything you feel! Your imagination needs to breathe, and you need to use your ability to channel it before it is lost.

 

A very helpful quote, and one of my favourites:

 

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." - Albert Einstein

 

Damien Albers created a short animation based on the artist’s block - “10 ways to get over an artist block”. If it weren’t for having the block in the first place the animation wouldn’t have even been imagined….get my drift? Below I have attached the link to it (the drugs part is debatable) But the short film is a prime example of what I am trying to explain. Rather than considering the actual content of the short, I am suggesting that it is the creator who challenged the block in the first place and used it to his advantage….

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhz3JMg6xVY