Artists and Insanity

brezzy

brezzy

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Artists are commonly associated with insanity. Do you agree with this?

If we would trace our famous artists in all fields, it somehow shows accidentally or not that the majority of our genius artists had this characteristics which normal persons do not have, the weirdness and madness side.

So artists depend yourselves! :-)
 
I think there's a disproportionate amount of focus on insanity. Plus there's the foolish notion that one must suffer for their art. There are tons of healthy artists out there. Mental health issues can strike anybody, it just seems more prevalent when it occurs to an artist, as it's heavily reported on.

That said, I'm sure for some performers, it can't be easy pretending to be somebody else all the time. As well, people fall in love with the character and not the actor. This can also cause for some mental confusion.
 
jcairns82 said:
I think there's a disproportionate amount of focus on insanity. Plus there's the foolish notion that one must suffer for their art. There are tons of healthy artists out there. Mental health issues can strike anybody, it just seems more prevalent when it occurs to an artist, as it's heavily reported on.

That said, I'm sure for some performers, it can't be easy pretending to be somebody else all the time. As well, people fall in love with the character and not the actor. This can also cause for some mental confusion.
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I agree, with you.
I know, many artist, who don't suffer from mental illness. Menal illness come in many forms and people should get help for their problems. It is kind of scarey, when you think, about it. Metal illness can happen to anyone, at any time. Everyone has a braking point.
 
This is an interesting question. Why do some artists have a reputation for being "insane" or "crazy"? Well, I believe this is largely a stereotype that began in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Due to the extremely repressed society at that time, a lot of people who did not conform to societal norms often became artists, poets and writers to allow themselves an outlet to vent their frustrations. Hence the stereotype of the tortured artist.

These sterotypes may not be so relevant nowadays but they are still very much alive in popular imagination.
 
Interesting theory, however not 100% accurate. In some cases artists are very normal people, just like you and me, or at the very least the few I personally know are such. It really depends on the public image they try to create. Some artists might even go as far as to fake insanity just to get their works sold or recognized.
 
Yeah, I also think it's a cliche, not particularly based in reality. For every "mad genius" you can find a hundred artists, writers, musicians, poets, etc, that have perfectly normal lives filled with the usual ups and downs.

I think it's true that creating great art has often required a certain amount of working outside people's comfort level, which can be read as bohemian or eccentric, or what-have-you, but even then we are talking about a relatively small subset of artists and as BWOF said, stemming from a certain cultural narrative that isn't quite so relevant anymore.
 
Maybe the reference should be attributed to those frustrated artists who can't even make a living from their art-work. In such cases it's possible that an artist who's stressed can be pushed over the edge. And it's not just artists who fall into these category. Writers also suffer from insanity [and some commit suicide] if they don't achieve their goals. So well, yes, artists and other creatives are more susceptible to becoming insane. It's wired into their system.
 
I recently had a discussion that was really similar to this one. The suggestion was that all (musical) artists were a little off. I had a really hard time giving a reasonable argument and that is including the fact that I am an artist myself. However, I wanted to make the suggestion that most people are off regardless of talent or lack thereof. I would assume so many people feel this way because so many people are a bit crazy or eccentric or 'off'.
 
We can't exactly generalize that all artists are insane, but we do know that all artists think differently than everybody else. Some think in bizarre ways, some think just like regular people. But who is to say what is regular or not?

Here we deal with how the society is make something acceptable and not acceptable again. Everyone has their own opinions, perspectives, and insights on life. Some are different from others, but we wouldn't call that insane.
 
For me, until it is clinically proven that a person is indeed insane, then they are just eccentric to me. And the arts is a field where being different is a must, it's not like your stale, run -of the-mill field like the medical field, for example. It is a field centered on creativity. So of course they would try to be as unique as possible ala-Lady Gaga.
 
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