Give art (another) chance.

The art that you abandoned may not yet be dead; give it a second life.

Author

Chris Valdheims
March 17, 2024

Listen to this episode: “Give Art (Another) Chance”

The life of this episode of the podcast mirrors exactly what I am talking about in the episode.

I recorded this podcast episode a few weeks ago but am only posting it today.

Normally, I post the episodes I record right away but for some unknown reason, I held this one back for a few weeks.

The episode’s fine, but I think I just hit a big cloud of resistance - the things I’ve discussed on this podcast since the get-go. We’re talking

You already know if you’ve been listening or reading for a while. The secret (maybe not so secret) is that all those things I’ve talked about are not solved problems for me.

Not by any stretch.

I struggle with each of those shits massively on a daily or weekly or monthly basis. Sometimes I whip their ass, and sometimes they paralyze my creativity completely. 

They won during the last few weeks.

But I’ve pushed the clouds back enough to get this episode to you. 

And I like this episode. 

It came about because I was cleaning out my old storage unit in Echo Park a few months ago when I came across a cache of art I made in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Much of it was good, but I didn’t think so then. 

I had zero confidence in any of it, so I stuffed it into boxes and bins and continued my life. 

I didn’t want to look at any of it because it represented an artistic failure. It reminded me of what could have been, making me feel bad. 

But as I looked at this art and held it in my hands - graphics, drawings, even a whole-ass zine that I made - I started to understand that this art may take on a life of its own. Maybe it was meant to sit there for 20 years as it did and come back to me now so I can reflect on the artistic journey and how non-linear it is.

Sitting with this art and what it could have been caused me to reflect on how I’ve developed as a person and how maybe one of the functions of that art is to cause me to share my journey with you. 

Yes, you. 🫵🏽

The one who might have a finished novel in a drawer or paintings you’ve never shown to anyone or something else that you might not have looked at for years or decades because you couldn’t forgive yourself for not getting it out there or “making something of it.”

You should forgive yourself and see if that thing has a second life. It might.

Listen to this episode: “Give Art (Another) Chance”

PS - what do you think of this topic? Do you have something you should resurrect? 🖤