313. Opening Pathways

People are always telling him that the things he makes are strange. He’s not offended by this. He can see why they say it. His art really is strange when it’s seen out of context. It’s strange because it doesn’t seem to relate to anything and there’s no way for the viewer to place it.

Other artists occasionally see what he’s doing and how it can be placed. They tell him that his work is clever, that it’s odd in a good way. This makes him feel a bit better. It means there are people like him out there, people who can connect his art to all of the other art. It means he’s not isolated, but part of a tradition.

Still, he’s bothered by all the talk of strangeness. He knows what it really means. It means his work is only valuable to a very small group. Others might look but they’ll never see anything in it, which means their attention will go elsewhere. Maybe they’ll look again if someone points out the value to them, but maybe not.

Sometimes he comes across someone interested enough in his creations to ask him questions. He tries his best to respond but often he cannot find the words he needs. This usually means the other loses interest. But sometimes they keep looking despite the paucity of his answers. These are the people who usually become his fans. Their number is few but they are dedicated. He tries to remember them whenever he feels despair over his work.

It’s not like he could do things differently anyway. He knows this is the art he must make. He can only lean into what makes him different, which is also what makes his work strange. He wants to show people something. It’s something he feels but does not quite understand, and he definitely can’t put it into words. To make something new is to open a pathway for others. Where the pathway leads, he does not know, but he knows he must still open it.