What exactly is an artist? Elvis was an artist. He used his creativity, his imagination, his genius to produce something from nothing. Sure, he had influences, and maybe even borrowed a trick or two from those who came before him, but he missed it all together and conjured up something that was uniquely his. Countless Elvis impersonators may be able to “conjure up the spirit of the King,” but few would consider them artists.
The other thing about Elvis: he didn’t set out to be the King. He was the right man at the right time; his talents and perspectives found a niche and it all just sort of happened, the immensity of the wave catching everyone—including Elvis himself—by surprise. In other words, he didn’t think about it, he just did it. If he had put more though into what he was doing at the time, we probably wouldn’t be hearing his rendition of “Hound Dog” in endless rotation on oldies stations today. Not to mention the thousands of Elvis invokers in Vegas and elsewhere who would have missed their true calling.
“Think.” A child does something stupid, and an adult says, “What were you thinking?” or “You need to think before you do something like that!” Thinking is a good thing—or so we were taught. Should you go with the 30-year mortgage or the 15-year? Should you stay in your current job, or take the offer you just got from the other company? Should you do your grocery shopping today after work, or on the weekend? You carefully weight the pros and cons, and come to an informed decision. You think.
But is it a universal truth that thinking is better than non-thinking? We all know it is possible to “over-think” a problem, but where does it make sense to “not-think”?
In art.
(originally written August 4th, 2004, sitting on the shore of Rock Creek Lake in the Eastern Sierra)
[ photograph above: Kelso Dunes, 1998 ]
