Cervantes' Don Quixote answered your question. The Man of Sorrows, knight errant, a seeker of truth a righter of wrongs, a fool, a madman, a selfish lout. And holy.
Personal happiness is different from identifying with a social psyche, bloated in sorrow and failure, the actual misery of life. One can be personally happy and yet deeply concerned about human ills. But maybe that's just a mild form of happinerss, a state of contentment, a condition free from pain and immediate danger. I think the artist needs to be content to a degree enabling a distancing from life, to contemplate it from a remove as it were. Einstein said somewhere that "happiness is for pigs". He was not being metaphorical, he meant real oinky pigs. I don't think many artists are happy. They are too conflicted. They try to do the impossible day in day out, mostly in solitude. They live in their medium and thus are living artificial life. If they're engaged in life, they're not being artists. Jeff Koons is happy. WC --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > A correlation between "artistry" and depression, > alcoholism, drug-addictions > and other symptoms -- or causes -- of "unhappiness" > has often been written > about. We've seen many lists of depressive-writers, > et al. > > This is understandable. Writing about people with > "troubles" always makes for > more interesting copy. It's hard to find a good > story-structure in the life > of a contented person. > > It follows that a more original theme to pursue > would be based on a list of > "happy" artists. Moreover, journalistic honesty > would seem to demand a > diligent > search for counter-evidence to the usual theme. > > Granted, the notions of "happiness" and "sadness" > are so nebulous that > placing anyone in the "happy" category would draw > fire. But if that attitude > is > pressed too far, it would accept no one -- not just > artists, but anyone at all > -- > as "happy". In which case the argument that all > artists are unhappy becomes a > truism, and fatuous. We need that search for happy, > contented artists! > > > > ************** > Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch > "Cooking with > Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. > > (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4& > ?NCID=aolfod00030000000002)
