There are two ways to approach art. The thermometer way and the thermostat way.
A thermometer reads the weather in the room. It can only tell you the current temperature. “It’s 76 degrees.” So many artists create like thermometers. They read the temperature of their surroundings and report back. “This is the current design technique. This is the current sound. This is the current writing style.”
Then there are thermostats. They don’t just read the temperature of the room. They set the temperature. They say, “This is how things should be. Let’s make it that way.” I want to be a thermostat artist.
I don’t just want to report on things as they currently exist. I want my reading to be different than the current reading in the room. I want people to see something new is coming. “It may be god-awful hot right now, but I can see when I look at Jonathan that something refreshing is on the way.”
I want to affect change instead of reflecting it.
And that takes work. It takes, first, identifying things aren’t how they should be. Then it takes seeing where things could be. Finally it takes action. It takes effort to work contrary to the current temperature. I must actively resist the status quo.
Too many artists are mercurial in their approach to art. I refuse to be that way. I want to be a thermostat.
So what’s your thermostatus? Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? Do you reflect current cultural trends or do you set your own?
Sure, there’s value in reading the current temperature. But there’s even greater value in setting the temperature. Let’s set the temperature.
If you live in the artistic North, let’s make some hot art. If you live in the artistic South, let’s make some cool art.
Let’s set the temperature.