You’ve Gotta Be Crazy To Be An Artist

To Cathy:

 

Leonardo searched the cemeteries.

Lautrec consorted with prostitutes.

Michelangelo lay on his back until crippled,

Painting the ceiling of the Cysteine Chapel.

Picasso painted faces as cubes.

Dali said he was the psychedelic drugs.

Cezanne painted landscapes out of perspective.

Pollock dripped paint on the canvas.

Warhol painted soup cans, Marilyn and Mao.

Basquiat died before 30.

 

The artist externalizes their psyche,

Their imagination running wild.

Difficult to live with,

Exploring their emotional spectrum,

Channeling their intuition,

Then at last finding perfection

In a finished work.

Recovering, starving,

Van Gogh sold one painting in his lifetime.

Today they sell for many millions.

You’ve gotta be crazy to be an artist.

 

NBS

5-3-2020

VE