I was soaking in the sun at the local watering hole on a rare spring afternoon in Austin when an oddly familiar mop of dirty blond hair turned the corner of the bar patio.
Ive had this thought about people like Jimmy Buffet and Thomas Kinkaid, and pop phenomenons like the marvel empire or taylor swift. There is a certain genius in understanding you are mediocre and running with it. I think theres also a genius in populism, in being in tune with what people want on such a mass scale.
The result is often refreshingly non-cerebral art, art that just hits some collection of primal impulses, a move with big explosion, a relaxing beat, a painting of a nice cozy house. Its not groundbreaking but its a nice change of pace if you were previously trying to consume only really good art. Its a simple pleasure, it doesnt demand anything from you.
sounds about right although I would not put Taylor Swift in that category - doing 4 hour concerts for two years back to back seems superhuman in itself
Sure, but thats about effort and work ethic, not talent. You can be mediocre talent-wise and still put in effort. I think someone can also be exceptional business-wise or marketing-wise (or in just having an extreme work ethic, like taylor swift) without necessarily being exceptional artistically, which is how id classify Jimmy Buffet for example
Ive had this thought about people like Jimmy Buffet and Thomas Kinkaid, and pop phenomenons like the marvel empire or taylor swift. There is a certain genius in understanding you are mediocre and running with it. I think theres also a genius in populism, in being in tune with what people want on such a mass scale.
The result is often refreshingly non-cerebral art, art that just hits some collection of primal impulses, a move with big explosion, a relaxing beat, a painting of a nice cozy house. Its not groundbreaking but its a nice change of pace if you were previously trying to consume only really good art. Its a simple pleasure, it doesnt demand anything from you.
sounds about right although I would not put Taylor Swift in that category - doing 4 hour concerts for two years back to back seems superhuman in itself
Sure, but thats about effort and work ethic, not talent. You can be mediocre talent-wise and still put in effort. I think someone can also be exceptional business-wise or marketing-wise (or in just having an extreme work ethic, like taylor swift) without necessarily being exceptional artistically, which is how id classify Jimmy Buffet for example