What makes a truly great artist? Is it their natural skills, their education, their range of creative expressions… or is it something more? The answer, I argue, is bravery in art.
While a person can have all the talent in the world, there’s a certain confidence and even rule-breaking required to truly captivate an audience. Great art does not only look nice (unless you just want something pretty to hang in a lobby) – it also sometimes carries a counterculture message that offends some people. Great artists do not worry about offending anyone, or receiving negative feedback or even backlash, because great art is not censored.
Great Art Happens Outside the Comfort Zone
I can relate to this as a street photographer. This genre of photography itself is sometimes frowned upon, because some perceive it as an invasion of privacy (despite being performed in public). However, the greatest street and documentary photos we have today didn’t happen because a photographer stopped to consider the ethics of the image – they exist because they had the will to press the shutter when they needed to, cementing the moment into history.
While I do not have any street photos in the pages of Life magazine, I can say with confidence that my best street images were taken with confidence. (I do have a photograph selected for an upcoming Toronto magazine, so that’s cool.)
Pushing Against Societal Norms
But street photography is just one example of bravery in art. We can apply the principle to other mediums, such as writing. The most creative and also most powerful literature does not come from a place of meekness. For example, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, first published in 1985, is about a fictional dystopian future. But the storyline, which has been adapted for television since, has faced harsh censorship and has been challenged by learning institutions for its “sexual overtones.”
While Atwood kept a personal journey at the time of writing the novel and didn’t mention bravery as being a factor, she did tell the press years later that she refuses to censor herself. “If you’re a writer and everybody likes you, a) You’re doing something wrong, or b) You don’t exist,” said the author from Canada.
She also says she’s “happy to be in the company” of other writers who swam against the stream during their era, including Emily Bronte who penned Wuthering Heights, a novel published in 1847 that is remembered as a love story. But it also took on the sensitive topic of abuse, as well as challenging religious and social ideals.
Breaking the Rules Creates Art Icons
We also see examples of rule-bending in visual art. Bansky is one obvious example, as he creates powerful imagery that often carries a stark political message. However, his unsolicited public art has come under scrutiny as being “vandalism” while causing some drama for owners of properties he had used as canvases. But Banksy’s art has also sold for almost obscene amounts of money at auction, not only for being edgy, but also for being rare.
Meanwhile, I’ve also noticed that in both visual art and fictional writing, erotic art (caution: link NSFW unless you’re in a home office) seems to be enjoying a bump in recent years, including during the pandemic. The reasons may be obvious (lots of time in lockdown, for example) – but the point is that some artists I follow, primarily female, have pivoted to this genre, and this could make them vulnerable and open them up to criticism. But as one of these artists, Robyn Lightwalker (you can support her work through her Patreon), noted on my Facebook post on the subject in May 2020: “I was afraid of how people might react to some of it, but the more taboo and vulnerable I am with my art, the more people seem to respond to it.”
Use Bravery in Art to Make a Statement
The bottom line is that watering down art because you think it might offend someone or land you in hot water will not make you stand out from the crowd, unless you are particularly good at branding – and that’s a whole other subject for another time.
By not creating with confidence, you’re limiting your potential and your impact, not to mention suppressing your true self. I know being brave is no small quality – it takes practice. I still sometimes question whether I should write on a taboo subject (especially when it involves people I know), or post a particular image, fearing the type of responses I’ll get. But being considerate has not served my quest to take my art to the next level.
At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself a key question: why do I make art? If it’s to hang in a lobby, sure, play it safe. But if you want to garner a following and make a real impact, you’re going to have to become more comfortable with being uncomfortable – a real artist’s drive to create will outweigh their fear.
