Does narrowing your focus expand your perspective as an Artist? (6min read)

Based on myself and most of my friends I'm confident enough to conclude - all creatives have their fingers in more than one thing. From there logically, the biggest struggle of 'the emerging artist' is choosing that one thing…. We keep hearing pick a niche, choose a medium, find an aesthetic... but it all feels so restraining. In the end, choosing one means…. turning back on everything else.

When I made the decision to take my painting practice seriously it did feel like I was turning back on all my other hobbies and artistic opportunities. But now a couple of years later I can tell you my world has opened up and I have found way more ways to create, express, and connect. It does sound counterintuitive, but hear me out. My photography has a purpose, my graphic design skills, well now they also have a purpose, I still get to do all those million different things but they align with one goal. I'm not saying there are no sacrifices involved. We have to give up to receive. But here I'm talking about a shift in perspective in beliefs. I believed that choosing painting would limit, me and for a long time I was putting away the decision just because it felt like "it's taking my freedom away". I'm all these other things, not just a painter... now I understand I still AM embodying all those different aspects, which give my art its unique perspective. I was wrong, that's what I'm trying to say.

In the end, I want to be an artist and I am one step closer.

The difference is before I would take a few pictures, make a sketch or two, or do a digital drawing... but all of those small efforts were not moving the boat forward. Yes, they helped me become better, maybe, but it wasn't intentional. I was playing too many sports at once, never winning at any of them. I believe creativity needs boundaries, boundaries that we the artists set ourselves. Boundaries that help us stay on course, that help us align our efforts with our mission.

I think ultimately boundaries are the context in which creative solutions arise.

Problem-solving at its finest...but I do need to know what the problem is before I find a solution. By eliminating options, by creating restraints, the process becomes streamlined and intuitive, the problem becomes more defined and the solutions become clearer.

The box that helped me start - landscapes and yellow. I don't plan on painting landscapes all my life, (who knows). To start, I had to narrow my options to the point that I almost don't have to think about what's my next piece.

Of course, I want to talk about big things, and deep subjects, but where do I start, if I'm not even confident with the brush yet? Will you believe me, if I tell you that I've had thousands of amazing art ideas, but they are way too challenging to execute when you don't have a process to step on, when you don't have the confidence that all your previous work gives you.

So the situation was - start working and think later... and only in this repetitive cycle of creation, the question Why? starts to arise, but not before, before is just an unexplained desire to make art.

Okay, but why do we have the need to make and consume art? I think is that very need for deep conversations, the need for sharing without words. Art and maybe religion and philosophy are the expression of the same longing to understand the invisible, to explain the unexplainable. That's why artists, musicians, writers, actors, ect. hang out with each other, because we get to talk about those complex topics. A good book, a good song, a good film, a good painting... what unifies them? They make us think, they make us experience, and they expand our perspective. But to get to the point, where we as artists are able to articulate those deep and complex subjects and ideas, we need to be proficient in the materialization process of art making.

How could a writer focus on what they're writing if they are constantly unsure how to write? An actor wouldn't be able to perform if he has to think about how to perform, while he performs, right?

So narrowing our focus gives us the ability to master a certain something, and that mastery in return gives us a whole new language to express ourselves. I'm further down the line than if I was still trying out new stuff and questioning "is that the right thing". Nothing is right until you choose to make it, I guess. Honestly, everything seems easy until you start doing it. There is never enough passion to get me through the hard times, it's the purpose and the commitment, that makes me return again and again.

My point is Picasso, would have probably been a good photographer, if he decided. Frida Khalo could probably be a great musician if she decided to. It's not the material, it's not the style, it's the message, the intention, and the commitment. All great artists made lots of something before people started to pay attention. They repeated the process of making ...enough times, so the message became as clear as water.

But there is less and less space for deep focus. Our world is built around keeping us entertained, and satisfied but always seeking for more. Always making us feel as if there is something that we are missing out. I agree it becomes harder and harder to deeply engage, with ourselves and with everyone and everything around. I remember the times when life was boring. When bringing your phone to the dinner table was a sin… now making eye contact is offensive.

And this endless input, endless opportunities... it's paralyzing.
There is a term for it - Decision fatigue:

The idea is that after making many decisions, your ability to make more and more decisions over the course of a day becomes worse. It's all linked to exercising willpower, from which we have let's say limited amounts of. Every decision, small or big depletes the battery, and oh boy isn't our world full of decision making... (On a side note, this phenomenon explains also why we feel so exhausted after spending time in a large shop. Even if you have to buy only one thing, you still have to CHOOSE to say no, to everything else in the shop. This is why deciding the plan for tomorrow the night before scientifically increases your chances of actually getting it done. )

With our world becoming more and more shallow, the impact of those deep conversations is even bigger, but we cannot stay on the surface and expect to make a tsunami.

Art has always been a driving force for human civilization, and it might sound grandiose but it's true. Through the narrow focus of our own creative process, we are building a bridge into the universal process of creation, which in return gives us the opportunity to share the divine through our work. Our job is way more important than we think, what we choose to focus on and talk about now is slowly shaping the future.