Weirdo Colonies

Michael at 2Blowhards blows off some steam about people involved in cultural pursuits. In a word, they're all nuts.

This is a generalization of course, but his point (which clearly I buy into quite broadly) is that weirdness rather than talent is the defining feature of people with a serious involvement in cultural activities. Read the whole thing, it's a gem.

Further, I don't think he means (and I certainly don't) a completely harmless sort of English eccentricity, but rather a sociopathy that varies from mild to dangerous.

This is not to say these folks aren't talented, many of them are fabulously so. But if I can extend the argument a bit, it is that culturally talented people are not as attracted to cultural activities as is quite another type of person for whom weirdness is a primary facet of their personality.

Like Michael, I also speak from some personal experience here. I indulged my weirdness and flirted with cultural involvement quite heavily for a few years. What I learned was that the people who had real depth seemed to flit in and out of that world, leaving behind a pool of people who were (perhaps) talented but whose defining feature was their odd interface with the world around them.

The worst part about it was the distorted sense of self they seemed to have. They were sure they were "in art" when any level of self-awareness should have told them they were in retail.

Via Chicago Boyz.

P.S. I'm embarrassed by how low my normality score is (30%) compared to the people who commented on the original post on 2Blowhards.

P.P.S. All this makes me wonder about a painter I know who's quite good, but doesn't sell much (if anything). He's odd, and strange, and wonderful in a good friend sort of way, but I don't think he connects with other artists because he isn't fundamentally weird in that sociopathic sort of way.

Comments

[john top]

There's something about exceedingly talented people being excessively weird and it's not just in cultural arenas. Paul Erdos had no home and just lived at various colleagues homes, John Nash was for a period genuinely nuts believing in aliens, and Kurt Godel died from self-starvation.

I think we need to distinguish between the eccentric-talented types and the faux-eccentric "hangers on", you know the pretentious hep-cat types who are into the scene for the scene rather than being attracted to the creativity around them.

[Dave Tufte]

I like this point - I knew about Erdos, Nash may be excepted for clinically diagnosed problems, and I hadn't heard about Godel. Did you catch that one from Arja T.?

I think "doesn't play well with others" should be a result, not a goal (as in the group in the second paragraph).