This world in our time is filled with eye catching stuff. Creativity has been over-rated. I mean, people always care about ideas, the idea can be something they called "Cool". Even the word "Cool" is very pale and boring and over-rated in a real art world. Because, making a cool thing is very easy at this time, if you get on internet and look at some very cool stuff from some cool people who has already been cool before you and me. These people made their cool stuff, then a lot of people became their followers.
As Nietzsche said, human beings has herd instinct, they like to be followers because they have no self. They have no idea what is real and what is self. So, they have no awareness of self but something from outside world, such as information from internet, mass media, movie...if so, they cannot make artwork to be their own, they are just imitating and stealing but they said this is creativity and this is cool. I mean imitating is not a bad thing, the bad thing is if you don't know why you create art like this. You must know why you create an art when you create it, it is not about a easy meaning, such a beauty, cool or nice...but the ultimate meaning of art.
If art is only about creativity or cool, the art has already died for many years. However, art has not died, because the artist, I mean the real artist is still exist, and the art is the way of thinking and living of the artist. Obviously, the artist has creativity, but it is only a tool or a part of ability for them to make art in order to show or express their thoughts- the artist really aware themselves as individuals, they have egos, and this ego is keeping them different from each others, so that they create things out of nothing but their own minds, eyes, breath, love, fears, passion and sexuality...however, their egos must echo the general existence of other human beings, so that seeking the essential meaning of existence of being human. Through the artist's work, we will see the essence of self and the world, such as human nature, time and society. The existential question is about who we are, why we are exist. The artist ought to answer or seeking the answer through creating and showing their artwork. Otherwise, we are just wasting our time to making eye-catching works, which cannot be art.
Too many people want to be cool and recognized in 21st century, in this extreme commercial and internet-dominated era. People can easily be recognized through facebook, twitter and any social networking on internet. It became so much easier for people to show their artwork or creativity on internet, at the same time the meaning of art might be reduced into one word "Cool".
To be cool is a human nature, everybody wants to be cool, because every human being wants to get attention from others, we scary of being alone, we scary of death and uncertainty in this world. But as artist, we ought to overcome our human nature, as Nietzsche's said, "Human is something we ought to overcome". In my opinion, it does not mean, we should overthrow human nature or deny it. Human nature is neither positive nor negative thing, because I can't judge other people for being a human.
but it is a obstacle for these people who want to reach the essential meaning of existence, such as artist. Obviously, the artist is human, but the artist want or obligate to reach the meaning of existence, so the artist ought to overcome their human nature. The artist must experience the fear, the alienation, the solitude...in order to understand the feeling of being human and create the way for others to aware that who we are and why we exist. Indeed, that's the only way for the artist to keep ourselves do not lost in our time and our society. We shall not fall into this world and betray ourselves and our styles to be cool and to be recognized. We ought stand outside of this time and society and be the witness of it, we create from it and to it.
