Art and Fear

This is a book about art-making in the midst of life. Art is made by everyone, in their own ways. Certainly, art is not made by Mozart; there are no Mozarts around to make those great musical masterpieces. Yet people make good art all the time—good art that is accessible and enjoyable. Genius gets credited with the creation of music or paintings or architecture, but we don't credit people with genius when they create something insightful or lovely or moving. If we do, then I suspect that such a genius would be someone like Beethoven or Da Vinci—someone who possesses an uncanny ability and knowledge that maybe one individual among several million might possess. In other words, if you see someone who has produced something incredible and rare, you could say that he or she is a genius and have no real evidence to back up your claim other than saying so. That's why this book concentrates on explaining how to go about making art without getting caught up in the problem of genius.