Ending

When you bring up the relationship between fun and art, I can’t help but wonder exactly what that relationship is. It may certainly be true that some art is not fun. There is art that is stark and hurtful and bleak. Nothing about this, for instance, is fun. It certainly isn’t funny. But then again certainly some art is fun. And the art that is not “fun” is on some level enjoyable. On some level we enjoy having emotions and we enjoy responding to creations. That does not mean that making art is fun or enjoyable. Here is the thing, when you say that writers “hole up in a little studio and solemnly convey those experiences in a compelling way,” I can’t help but wonder whether an artist can have fun at all.

Of course that seems a bit silly but I think that examining exactly what kind of person decides to spend any amount of time working on something for other people is a worthwhile thing to look at. These other people are some that the artist will never meet, or know, or get anything from in any way. Except maybe sex. All people hold out hope that maybe what they do will get them sex somehow. But otherwise what a peculiar form of communication art is then. You sit alone and figure something out and you carve it and shape it and remold it until it is just right and you send it out. The hours and the suffering you go through to make something for someone else to experience. It is a odd thing we do. And we all do it. But is it fun? I am unsure. I don’t even know if it is fun on the other end. I don’t even know that when I consume art, I can properly call that fun.

Let’s say I can. Let’s call the consumption of all art fun. But there is still the issue of the artist. Does she ever enjoy her work? I would say yes they do. But do they have fun? I guess it depends. I think that the amount of work put into something can be really hard. Does it have to be a big uncomfortable hassle all the time? Certainly not but doesn’t it make it seem more mysterious and lofty to pretend that there is a constant burden on the artist? And that must not be demystified or pretty soon everyone will think they can write or draw or play music. Who wants that.

Writing, or painting, is not a hassle but it is hard. It is frustrating. But then again maybe that is fun. Who knows? The frustration of writing a song and getting it just right, yeah that is all there. But then you see a band playing together who have been playing together for years. They have had fights and struggled to make everything the way they wanted it. And now here they are on stage playing the song loosely and having a great fucking time doing it. And so are you. You are having all the more fun with them because they are having a blast. You can kind of always tell when someone is having fun and you want to have fun too. Even in writing, which is the solitary effort of lonely souls, a reader can tell when someone is enjoying their own writing as if they didn’t write it.

Jen I get what you are saying about fun catalyzing art. It is the beginning. But it is the end too.

-James