Meander….Dilly Dally - Drift. Bored Stiff.

The Art of Doing Nothing!

For decades artists, poets and musicians have been accused of swanning about, ‘What exactly do you do all day?’

It takes time to make a decent piece of art in any form, years, even decades. In our clickbait, blue light, hustle obsessed, throw away culture the most productive seem to flourish and prosper.  I grapple with the rate at which I am able to produce my own artwork on a consistent basis.

The complexity of the problem lies in the fact that in order for an artist to financially support themselves in a full time artistic practice they need a certain level of exposure for their work to be shown at galleries, gain momentum and buyers to invest in their work.

Do I succumb to the algorithms and the mounting pressure to constantly post and make art? If so, at what expense? Quality versus productivity. 

According to Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries from the paper Doing Nothing and Nothing To Do: The Hidden Value of Empty Time and Boredom writes the following on creativity:

‘Doing nothing and being bored can be invaluable to the creative process. In our present networked society, introspection and reflection have become lost arts. Instead, we are at risk of becoming victims of informational overload. The balance between activity and inactivity has become seriously out of sync. However, doing nothing is a great way to induce states of mind that nurture our imagination. Slacking off may be the best thing we can do for our mental health. Seemingly inactive states of mind can be an incubation period for future bursts of creativity. Keeping busy can be a very effective defense mechanism for warding off disturbing thoughts and feelings. But by resorting to manic-like behavior we suppress the truth of our feelings and concerns, consciously or unconsciously avoiding periods of uninterrupted, freely associative thoughts. Yet unconscious thought processes can generate novel ideas and solutions more effectively than a conscious focus on problem solving. ‘

Citation: Kets de Vries, Manfred F.R., Doing Nothing and Nothing to Do: The Hidden Value of Empty Time and Boredom (May 5, 2014). INSEAD Working Paper No. 2014/37/EFE, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2432964 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2432964

I think about spaces a lot when referring to art of any form. Open spaces, gaps and pauses and making space and taking breaks before making work. In paintings whites space gives the art work space to breathe. In music if you play a series of notes toppled on top of each other without any pauses the sound just becomes noise. This also applies to dance the series of steps compiled together needs pauses and breaks in order for the viewer to fully absorb the movement expressed.

Reclaiming according to Manfred F.R. Kets’ the lost art of introspection and reflection, I guess what I’m trying to say is instinctively I think all artists know this at their core. That it’s perfectly okay to not pump out work 24/7! To allow yourself time to meander, to ponder, to drift, and be lazy and on occasion even suffer from boredom, regardless of societal pressures. I think this will only fuel creativity and enrich the creative process. I also think the magic lies in the spaces and in the gaps and in the in-between. I will continue to produce art slow and I’m okay with that!

Casual.

Laziness, Boredom, Reflection, Left-Right Brain, Creativity, Productivity, Casual, Slow Art