Freedom vs Inner torment

The artisan’s battle lies within. The unseen imperfections by the untrained eye are like memories of torment in the artisan’s mind. Each imperfection and mistake acts as a mirror, reflecting the flaws within ourselves.

That’s how the argument rages in our heads. The ego is fragilely placed between our subjective and objective realities, with mother nature and those that were brave enough who went before us, as arbiters. Well, artisanship sounds like a laugh a minute! Where do I sign up? 

Let’s just suppose that someone sets out on this fateful journey, what is there to gain? Except inner torment!

Freedom. Freedom of expression together with your existential freedom. To have a job, as the artisan understands it, is to defer your freedom. The artisan chooses freedom over financial security. It is just the artisan and the medium of expression that is the contribution to the world. The painter paints, the writer writes and the sculptor sculpts, it is no more complicated or simple than that. 

The artisan is both the master and the pupil co-existing beside one another. Not bound by the rules of society in the same way, the artist has a tendency to live at the fringes both physically and metaphorically. Not required to be in one place at a specific time, fluid, able to react and adjust as circumstance and emotions require.

It allows for a life in the present and that, like all great works of art, is priceless.

Words by: Alex Nash