The Artist and The Masterpiece
Essay: The true function of an artist is to produce a masterpiece and no other task is of any consequence.
The true function of a writer is to produce a masterpiece and no other task is of any consequence. — Cyril Connolly
Cyril Connolly, English literary critic and writer, once wrote the quote above. Expanding upon it, he provides unvarnished truth for all artists in the following excerpt:
"All excursions into journalism, broadcasting, propaganda and writing for the films, however grandiose, are doomed to disappointment. To put of our best into these forms is another folly, since thereby we condemn good ideas as well as bad to oblivion. It is in the nature of such work not to last, so it should never be undertaken. Writers engrossed in any literary activity which is not their attempt at a masterpiece are their own dupes and, unless these self-flatterers are content to write off such activities as their contribution to the war effort, they might as well be peeling potatoes. We cannot think if we have no time to read, nor feel if we are emotionally exhausted, nor out of cheap material create what is permanent. We cannot coordinate what is not there." — Cyril Connolly (emphasis mine)
Let's update Connolly’s ideas for today's world.
If he were here, I imagine he might say something like, “all excursions into social media, writing content to post online, commenting on other people's blogs, recording videos of yourself, scrolling feeds looking for ideas, or simply distracting yourself are doomed to disappointment and by wasting our time on these activities, we condemn our good ideas to oblivion.”
As Connolly said, you cannot express what is not there. And, if you haven't put in the necessary solitude, and deep thinking, to find out who you truly are and what you truly wish to say, then you haven’t found out what is there.
If you spend your time in the frivolous activities listed above, you are surfing the turbulent surface of an ocean looking for ideas when the sunken treasure is thousands of feet down in the stillness of solitude.
How many of us are emotionally exhausted, and yet, we spend our reading time scrolling social media and we spend our artistic time posting to it?
We published a piece by Vita Benes soon after we launched The BoldBrush Letter exploring this same idea titled Not Pieces, Masterpieces.
Vita advised, in connollyesque fashion, not to pursue making mere pieces (of content), but, instead, to pursue making masterpieces (of art).
That is the true function of any artist.
And as Nietzsche said, Art is the proper task of life, therefore, the proper purpose of the artist’s life is to make your masterpiece.
“Art is the proper task of life.” – Nietzsche
Your masterpiece might be a book, a painting, or an exhibit. It might be a poem or a collection of works, or, even, as the great spiritual masters through the ages have exhorted us to do, it might be making a masterpiece out of your life itself.
Let’s take a look at the distraction side of the equation: I don’t know about you, but I find myself increasingly, like television before it, completely bored with social media. I rarely spend time on it at all anymore. I’d rather write, read a real book, or spend time with friends, family or in solitude.
Even if social media provides some marketing value, it's not worth the time, other than in the most minimalistic way so that someone can find me if they wish to reach out to me.
Not only that, increasingly, I do not wish to support the big tech companies that own these platforms while they trample on the rights of artists to train their AIs and as they plan to turn around and take even more attention from humans to shove AI created accounts and features down our throats (which I predicted). It’s a faustian bargain and always has been.
Remember how they convinced us to “build an audience” and then, after we brought all our friends to their platforms, they changed all the timelines to algorithmic feeds and stopped showing our posts to the followers we had so lovingly and painstakingly attracted? They don’t care about users and, in fact, are using us. Only big tech and drug dealers work hard to addict users to their products.
Regardless of why we limit our social media time, by cutting back on the time wasted in such activities, we regain the precious time we need for the real activities that foster creativity.
True Artists (as opposed to the spurious “creators” on social media) need isolation, solitude, and white space. Artists need to read and digest books. And books need to be read and re-read. Artists need to spend time in nature. They need to meditate. They need to enrich their souls, so that they have something to give; so that they, as Connelly said, have found out what is there.
The ideas we read, see and intuit need time to roll around in our minds, have idea sex, combine with our own experiences, and recombine into something unique.
Next, after all that, we, the Artists, need to do the work.
All of this takes time and mind space, and it needs plenty of both.
To make matters “worse”, the most inspired ideas often happen at the least convenient times. And that takes even more of our time.
Sure, keeping a schedule helps to prime the Muse, but even so, she doesn't always show up when we wish she would. She certainly doesn’t for me. My Muse is like the woman in Billy Joel’s Always a Woman: She’ll carelessly cut me and laugh while I’m bleeding. She bring out the best and the worst I can be. But I love her deeply nevertheless. And when she promises me more than the garden of Eden, I do my best to stop, listen and write.
We artists, especially, must remember that technology doesn't always make our lives better, but it does make them faster and more connected. The world has assumed that faster and more connected means better (and, in some contexts, it is.)
But, faster and more connected is exactly the opposite of what the Artist needs.
As a writer, what I need is slower and less connected. The fewer ways people have to reach me, the better, at least if I ever want to write anything good. What the artist needs is less shallow connection with others, and more deep connection with themselves.
I learn more by sitting on the back patio with my cats, listening to the divine whisper of the wind, than I do by scrolling X/Twitter or TikTok or whatever the current grift app of the day is.
I stopped watching television with the proliferation of reality shows. This isn’t some sort of humblebrag, I stopped, literally, because there just wasn't anything good on even with over one hundred cable channels. And these days, social media is like reality TV on steroids.
Social media is the largest and worst reality show in existence. It's like everyone in the world is on a huge episode of Jerry Springer, and we're all proud of our cutoff shorts, our tattoo covered bodies, and the intrigue of figuring out who is the baby daddy of whom. The clichéd strippers make their appearance too, proudly hocking their OnlyFans links. Sometimes we even get a video mimicking one of the Jerry Springer Show’s hallmarks: a bunch of trashy people in a knock-down-drag-out fight. Springer was ahead of his time. He should’ve started a social network.
The serious Artist; however, cannot partake too much of that world. As they say, garbage in, garbage out and social media is humanity’s psycho-spiritual garbage dump; for that is how the world is – concerned with baby daddies and tattooed bodies wearing too-tight clothes – thirst traps sporting pumped-up silicon breasts pressed down into tiny braziers or six-pack abs and bulging biceps to ensnare the lustful.
On social media, each one of the seven deadly vices is perfectly catered to. Each post entices: a bite-sized piece of tempting colorful candy that we are encouraged to “consume.”
Greed is good. Lust is living. Envy is energizing. Gluttony is glamorous. Wrath is warranted. Sloth is sublime. Pride is poise.
Inducing others toward sin is merely “posting engaging content.” Hey, if it enrages, it engages. Instagram became more about pictures of the artists than their art works. Imagine Michelangelo dancing like a clown for likes. Imagine Frida Kahlo with waxed eyebrows and fake boobs, posing in a bikini offering her self-respect on the altar of the algorithm.
People have become confused about what really matters and think that garnering attention online — gawking really — is somehow equivalent to true marketing: It isn’t. Marketing art is far more about magic than metrics.
Partaking too much of such an insidious world causes us to suppress our creativity. Our Muse gets overwhelmed. And when people suppress their creativity, joy, and spirituality, they feel a deep angst — an anxiousness that is born from their true self knowing that they are not on their destined path and thus, that they are not living up to their purpose.
Many in that situation unconsciously look for someone else to blame for their problems. They project the angst outward because it is painful for any of us to go deep inside where we finally realize that we are the warden of our own internal prison and that the cell door is unlocked.
Social media is tailor-made to give such a person someone to blame for their problems.
Solitude and reflection is what such a person needs. But instead, they scroll an endless feed of "idiots" upon whom they can project all their internal problems.
It’s a vicious spiral downward for the ensnared: social media robs people of the time they need to be creative, and then turns around and gives them a host of victims to blame their resultant angst upon!
There were a few voices in the wilderness crying out warnings nearly two decades ago. My small voice was with them as we called out, exhorting artists that, “if it’s free, you’re not the customer and if you’re not the customer, you’re the product.” But most people prefer comforting lies to the difficult truth and that’s why John the Baptist lost his head.
Nevertheless, and thankfully, the simple solution remains within our grasp. We can just put the phone down. And that is what the artist must do. The True Artist must withdraw away, into the solitude of the dessert or the stillness of the mountain. The Artist is the modern day sage. The Artist is the mystic.
The Artist must access true gnosis – knowledge – and bring it out of that divine ground that is accessible deep within all of us. It is this divine sacred ground where we connect with our true Self. It is this divine ground where we experience the rejuvenating Mystery.
And perhaps, if we turn away from the debauched world of distraction, and we do the difficult, solitary-but-necessary work of creating our masterpieces then maybe, just maybe, our masterpieces will wake up a few members of the Jerry Springer crowd to the fact they too are actually divine beings of light with the true liberating power of creation inside of them.
Imagine if we all made masterpieces of our work and our lives!
So, excuse me, while I retreat to the mountain, to aloneness, to toil away on my next masterpiece. If you need to reach me, feel free to message me on X or Substack Notes, but I probably won't answer promptly as I have important things to create, as do you, for the sake of us all.
“Silence gives answers” — Rumi
PS - The ideas explored in this essay are explored far more deeply in my forthcoming book The Sovereign Artist: The Liberating Power of the Creative Act. If that is of interest to you, I encourage you to join the waitlist.
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No AI Zone: Everything written in this post (and all my posts) is written 100% by me, Clint “Clintavo” Watson, a flesh and blood human seeking to grow my soul and come home my truest self; for that is the essence of creativity. I do not use AI to assist me with writing — that would deny me the very growth of my world through writing that I seek.
I only rarely use AI images with my (non-AI) writing. On the rare occasions I do use an AI image (usually fiction), I also feature at least one artwork by a human artist with image credits and links to their work or, if I can’t find a suitable image, I donate a free month of website service to one of our artist customers at my SaaS company, FASO Artist Websites.
Poetic expression, spiritual ideas, and musings upon beauty, truth and goodness should be free to spread far and wide. Hence, I have not paywalled the work on Reflections of the Sovereign Artist. However, if you’re able to become a paid subscriber, I’d be eternally grateful. It would help, encourage and enable me to continue exploring these topics and allow me to keep it accessible for a world that is in desperate need of beauty, truth, goodness and love. — Creatively, Clintavo.
Enjoyed seeing your passion in this one. I felt every word.
Television became mostly a morass of commercials, narcissistic reality nonsense, and politically driven piffle. Social media became everything you beautifully outlined—I doubt the devil could come up with a better way to summon the worst in us. What to do then as creatives? I went back to school, having recently been accepted into the University of St. Thomas MFA in creative writing program. Their program is grounded in the classics. Rigorous study of Homer, Virgil, and writers like Flannery O'Connor, and other greats. I want to deepen my prose, and write that masterpiece novel. Quality trumps quantity, and while income is always a persistent reality for creatives in this changing landscape of AI and divided attention, I think we owe it to ourselves to become the best writers, artists, musicians, and creatives we can be. That way, the cream rises to the top. And to your point, that requires deep study, practice, learning, and solitude. Great post, Clint.