How to succeed as artist in spite of your own creativity | Tom Sachs | TEDxPortland

Portland I love you thank you for having me it's just a blessing how to succeed as an artist despite or in spite of your own creativity so this is me ten-year-old boy ID extremely unsuccessful childhood I mean it C - student bad at sports unpopular repeated 9th grade summer school ever saw every summer to graduate to the next class but where I learned nothing so my parents sent me to a child psychiatrist and she wrote Tommy struggles with systems but might outgrow this as he develops his own internal standards of excellence so 41 years later I'm still struggling with in my with standardized systems you should see me the motor vehicle department I am that guy so how do you find your own internal standards of excellence there's this anthropological term called sympathetic magic and sympathetic magic means by physically copying things you make them real or you make them function in some way like the real thing or possess the power of the thing sort of like a voodoo doll that ten-year-old boy made this camera out of clay for his father my dad's wanted an FM 2 camera but he couldn't afford it so I made it for him now this was not a strategic act it was done out of love was I was totally unaware of what sympathetic magic was and how it worked but I think I was at the beginning of a lifetime journey of building the world not the way it is but the way I wanted it to be later in college I took a sculpture class I met a student three years older than me she taught me how to weld she took me to the Museum of Modern Art for the first time I fell in love with sculpture I fell in love with her and then she dumped me I was heartbroken of course but she left me with welding skills and so I spent the rest of the semester making sculpture I I was my heartbreak therapy and for the first time in my life this is maybe I'm 20 years old like I understood that I could only rely on myself and the things that I created or the experiences that I created work became I felt my salvation and I found success and for the first time in my life I had the feeling of what being successful meant and that said I'd loved sculpture and it was it was it was I knew that I was gonna do it for the rest of my life somehow and I just want to make it clear it's still took 20 years before I could make a living making sculpture you know of doing all kinds of other things just to pay the bills but an awareness of success was inside of me so I found later found work as a non-union fire escape and elevator repairman in New York City it was hard miserable challenging work but I loved it because I could whatever was going on with my life I could um find emotional gratification through hard work forging metal and learning things that I should not be responsible for and they're still one day every year where I where I take welding jobs just to keep connected with my roots but I was inspired by this painting by Piet Mondrian that he made in 1943 Broadway boogie-woogie but I couldn't stand the idea of going down to Wall Street to get a job so I could afford something like that it did not feel like an authentic use of my time instead I went back to the museum and I studied the painting and I made my own this is a photograph of my Piet Mondrian Broadway boogie-woogie now it's it's not a forgery in oil and canvas it's a dub version in gaffers tape and plywood and these are materials that I have a connection with through doing construction projects here I'm creating authenticity that meets my own standards of what's important it's a genuine fake I'm certain that I spent more time and have a greater connection with Mondrian's work and signed new house did and signed new house spent a lifetime in publishing building a fortune so you could buy paintings like this and give them to the museum by writing things down they become more real this talk is about making things become real and the Sachs family crest represents my identity and my values now of course still work-in-progress but let's start with where it is now the Outer Ring institutions global and cultural and tribal organizations teams and cults that define me as a consumer NASA France the wu-tang clan these that and then within that is the ring of people Malcolm X Carl Sagan my mom my grandfather the people on my studio team these are my teachers the white star our principles that guide the studio self-examination truth over certainty perseverance within that the inner character ring it embraces and highlights the contradictions of the human character Apollo versus Dionysus rigor and humor research versus irrationality and at the center or a reminder that we Forge our bodies in the furnace of our will now how do i define these internal standards and how can you define your own and there are three ways authenticity intuition and transparency so let me explain authenticity first what it's not acid wash jeans are a form of stealing they wrecked they only represent the look of hard work and experience think about it you're you buy your denim new wear it past that awkward liminal stage where they look kind of dirty but are not quite broken in yet it could be uncomfortable it could be an uncomfortable state but it builds our character and our connections with our possessions authenticity what it is by building to an extreme degree of detail and depth the experience becomes real I have a space program and it is real what I can't do with kerosene and titanium I do with hot glue gun and cardboard and plywood true authenticity also demands endurance do it for a long time whatever it is you know two years it's just an interest you do something for five years it's a hobby do something for 20 years and you begin to build a sense of mastery and the holes in your position on the thing are too small to be of any meaningful consequence I've made a lot of tea bowls over the years so the second way to define your own internal standards is through intuition how do i define Frances two greatest cultural exports the guillotine and Chanel you do it through intuition the secret is to understand and accept yourself so you can have the courage to make just the right wrong decision don't take no for an answer say yes and show them how just because it's never been done might just be the reason you need to do it but the opposite is equally valid just because you can doesn't always mean you should art is a creative act and too much creativity can ruin it it's a discipline showing restraint and dedication to the work the work that's in front of you is just as important as following the muse when she blade graces you with her presence for that split second that's what we mean when we say creativity is the enemy do the task in front of you before you improvise creativity is not a leading strategy use only when necessary the third way to define your own eternal standards is through transparency now I could never make something as flawless as an iPhone but Apple could never make anything as flawed or broke-ass as one of my sculptures [Applause] be honest and transparent with your methods and your intentions understand and exploit your own superpowers for me it's embracing the glue drips the pencil marks the screws letting the materials in the process show that's a finished work of art you and I as individuals have more power more freedom more creative authority than the government and the corporation's who control it just look at we've done with YouTube now these are just some of the ways I've used sympathetic to build my own world through learning and embracing to love work embracing its humility I build large scale experiences that are complex yet intimate and I do this by giving into the work and by loving the work it's not that you have to do 50 pushups is that you get to do 50 pushups it's a privileged work but it's all through working to foster your own internal standards of excellence cultivate what's authentic about what you love to do cultivate that develop your intuition by learning over and over it's a lifetime lifetime struggle to accept yourself so you can trust yourself to make just the right wrong decision be honest with yourself and how you do the work that you do take advantage of your own superpowers to find a transparent way to work find a way that suits you find your own standards for your own hard work over the decades I've developed these internal standards to build these worlds they helped me create my own crest build your own crest and build your own world if you believe you will fail you will fail but if you believe you will succeed you just might thank you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 161,564

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Design, Creation, Creativity

Id: V8aeaX6Kozw

Length: 13min 0sec (780 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 24 2018