[Basse_Ex]

No, not all artists are mentally unstable, but alot of mentally unstable people try to be artists.

But...
Alot of mental problems come from perceiving oneself as an "outsider" in one sense or the other, and alot of art comes from the same emotion, being an "outsider" and wanting to express how you see the world.
In addition to that, people love art from "outsiders", because the audience wants and expects to get a "new" view from seeing art, or even better, to get an extreme view(Which mentally unstable people often are more inclined to have). Because of all these elements, many of those artist through history that we still remember, were people with some mental problems. There are, and have always been, more artists without any (serious) mental problems, but people generally don't want to remember them. We like our "tortured artist" clich�.

The right side of the brain most likely evolved for very logical reasons. Probably to deal with the information overload that came with increased intelligence. I've read somewhere that the human brain is more powerfull in "bit"s than all computers of the world combined, but the human consciousness is about 52 bits.... (that's almost enough to play Zelda:The Ocarina of time)...
Without abstract thought, the world becomes very chaotic.

[travis travis]

well my view is that great artists reserve their creativity for their ideas and work instead of expressing themselves socially like most people do. of course this leads to plenty of ugly problems.

[Snorkles]

Ok, here�s what I�ve heard: All artists become mentally unstable(more or less ex. bad memory and so) when they get older. Is this true?
Many great artists were crazy/depressed.

Why? It has have to do with the fact that artists use their right half of the brain more than the left(correct me if I�m wrong, but the right is for the stuff artists need, and the left is logical). Maybe the right one controls abstract thinking too, which would mean that artists are "deaper" than other people. And we all know how abstract thinking affects the mind right? You become depressed.

It�s interesting to think the human brain as a mutation from the instinct-brain. Now, if mother nature is so smart, what was her intention with the right brainhalf? I mean, all mutations that remains has a function. What function has the artist-brain, in a survival point of view?

[Hunago]

I agree with previous comments, the idea of social isolation for several decades is terrifying. It's enough to wrap anyone's mind.

[Steven Stahlberg]

The left and right brain dividing into logical and creative is a myth mostly perpetuated by the author of that famous learn-how-to-draw book (which works by the way, not saying it doesn't), who grabbed onto the results of some study back in the 70's and blew it all out of proportion. In reality (as has been shown by later studies) the human brain is much more complex than that, and in fact uses both sides in both logical and creative thought.

edit:
But the basic question is interesting: what evolutionary function does creativity have? My first thought is that it's probably useful in problem-solving - and if the problem is a life-and-death crisis then obviously the more creative guy is likely to live longer.

[ April 14, 2002: Message edited by: Steven Stahlberg ]

[edible snowman]

to me, creativity doesn't just apply to artistry. creativity is just the desire to create something. you can say creativity is an evolutionary advantage because whichever civilization creates faster will have a natural advantage. the first monkey to pick up a stick and beat the shit out of the monkey next to him was creative, but not an artist. i'd say nearly any leading profession could be as creative as another, just in a different way. scientists are creative, but they turn it towards practical applications. businessmen can be creative, if only to create something that will make them money. you could even say some politicions are creative because they want to create a new society. this is probably really off topic..

[Liser Studios]

quote:

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Originally posted by edible snowman:
the first monkey to pick up a stick and beat the shit out of the monkey next to him was creative

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lol hhahahahahahahaaha that's halarious!

i think there are a lot of artists who aren't mentally insane, but yes, we remember the ones who were mentally insane. I mean, what's more interesting, someone who justs paints normal things that you see everyday, or someone who is way "out there"?
But what's nice is that these people suffer throughout their lives, but they're remembered for many centuries to come. But form what I've experienced so far, I still don't know if that's worth it.
I mean, maybe (maybe) in 600 years people will know who Keith Patton is, but does having a sucky life make up for it? I don't know...
I guess I'll ask Van Gogh after I die! haha
but what's weird is that the people who are remembered for a long time seem to be politicians and artists (not just painters, i mean composers and shtuff too). Yet, if you read my other post, no one cares about us while we're alive! lol