by Being misunderstood as an artist is a dangerous state to tempt because it means you are beyond common thinking and you are, and forever shall be, on your own.
The Misunderstood always risk — The Wasted Life — and must, at all costs, avoid the stasis of a neverending imprisonment in seeking the approval of others if they ever hope to honor their initiative and celebrate their inner drive to find success.
The Misunderstood often have the ability to help others think as they do — but the danger in that covenant is reducing the risk to the eternal self.
The Misunderstood must never worry about what others think.
The Misunderstood should always be open to welcoming people to their ideas, but they should never lower their ideals in convening the dyad.
The Misunderstood must always understand who and what they are and then honor their native and innovative, biological, vision.
The temptation for the Misunderstood is to become a Misanthrope — because that is the easy road and to flay everyone around them for applying a label is undeserved and for their ongoing refusal to resurface their imagination in order to see reality.
The stake of the Misunderstood is to, perhaps, live a lonesome life — but never a lonely one — and that’s the key to fulfilling the promise of a life in the wake of disbelief and debridement from others who cannot fathom a light that is only visible in the night sky.
I am reminded of Andy Warhol Campbell Soup paintings and all the people who buy them because they are Warhol without asking, why do I have a painting of Campbell Soup on my wall? Do you consider Warhol to be one of the misunderstood?
Warhol, in his time, was terrible misunderstood. There are rejection letters from museums across the world cementing their “misunderstanding” of his Art.
Warhol kept at it, kept his vision intact, found young people who “understood” him and built an empire. He was more of a “re-imaginer” than a postmodernist — and I have great admiration and longing for his incredible talent. His point of view was entirely solid and founded.