(I want to make it clear, I'm not shaming anyone for anything, this is just something that is odd to me personally)

My whole life I've always had fictional stories I've thought up, and I always believed that every person had a story they wanted to share, and if not a story, some other form of art (ideas for paintings/drawings, comics, sculptures, woodworked stuff, etc.). Talking to my brother, I found he had literally zero thoughts on any form of art or story, instead the thing he's most passionate about is the ability to make money and get rich one day, which is so strange to me. I had honestly believed up until that point that everyone had something, but my brother has zero thoughts or inclinations towards such. I'm accepting now that there are people who are like this, but that was honestly so jarring to me.

I wonder if perhaps my definition of 'art' should perhaps grow to include intelligent investing that leads to riches, perhaps my definition is actually outdated and excludes other forms of art.

I should say though, just because someone hasn't delivered on their choice art doesn't mean they don't have a desire for it (I haven't written any of the stories in my head for example), and I don't mean people like this (cause I'm in that category myself).

  • Evilsandwichman [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    this is what the hippies are saying about producing bad art being a revolutionary act. rebellion against a world that tells us art has no value unless it is sold.

    Huh....this is actually kind of concerning for me. I can't point to what it was when I was growing up but I eventually had the same mindset that if I can't do something like publish a story of mine or sell it in some way that it wasn't worth the effort. I've had story ideas that I never even tried to put to paper because I didn't see myself ever selling it, it was just something to explore mentally and then drop.

    My brother has also dwelt on the concept of making or commissioning people to make video games for him but purely for the financial rewards to come out of selling them (as he'd heard so much about mobile phone games that make a lot of profits, mostly via micro-transactions).

    Frankly it really sucks that the creation of art has become so entwined, even on a mental level for some people (myself included) with its ability to turn a profit. I used to write stories when I was a kid (really crap stuff though) and honestly I can't point to when I stopped and decided it wasn't worth the effort because I couldn't see myself monetizing it.

    Art for its own sake is something I can understand on an intellectual level, but I can't feel the same motivation towards as others do and I certainly wish that wasn't the case. I keep envisioning myself writing all these stories that go unpublished or read by a scant few and I can't fathom why I would continue in the practice or where I would find the motivation, but I do certainly wish it wasn't the case as I do have stories that I don't want to pass from this world without having committed to paper.