Ask a mad and artistic genius

[Rev. Rye]

Since there's a lot of "Ask a..." threads popping up, I decided to throw my Aegean Fisherman's Cap into the ring.

And since I had a hard time figuring out exactly which niche I should represent, I decided to represent the mad, artistic genius.

• Mad: My brain is heavily garnished with chunks of the DSM-5, with OCD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Depression confirmed.
  
• Artistic: I have a BA in Fiction Writing from Columbia College Chicago and spend much of my spare time writing, reading, watching films, and listening to music.
  
• Genius: I had an IQ test at age six with a final score of 176, if that means anything. But still, I'm fairly well-read in a lot of subjects and was once the top scorer in Illinois' college bowl.
  

So ask awaÿ!

[Jenny A]

If you're so smart why aren't you rich? Sorry I'm channeling my dead grandfather. He wasn't really such a very nice man.

Here's a nicer question: Do you think madness and artist genius are related? I consider myself pretty artistic and I do have a rather distinctive style, but I not Picasso setting off to set the art world on it's ear. Would it help if I were mad like Van Gogh. Do I have one ear too many?

Do you think part of your depression and other problems has to do with trying to communicate with those of us who have lesser IQs?

[ignoramus]

Do you create from the "soul", or from chemicals and neurons firing in rapid succession?

[paulpablo]

What do you get depressed about?

[Pyrrho]

...

Here's a nicer question:  Do you think madness and artist genius are related?  I consider myself pretty artistic and I do have a rather distinctive style, but I not Picasso setting off to set the art world on it's ear.  Would it help if I were mad like Van Gogh.  Do I have one ear too many?
...

I think they are related, but are not necessarily connected.  In order to be an artistic genius, one must be different from most people in the way one thinks.  The same is true of madness (as it is normally understood).  

Not that I have a large enough sample, nor that it is necessarily representative, but most of the very creative people I have known have serious mental problems.  I remember one guy in college whose creativity seemed to be enhanced by his bouts of madness.  I liked him better, though, when he was between such bouts, as he was a bit of an asshole when off his rocker.  

I have only known one truly creative person who isn't crazy, though that individual seems particularly and extremely sane.  But there is insanity in the family, most of whom are not creative (but one is).

So, I don't think you have to be crazy to be artistic, but I do think there is often a correlation.  That is, a high percentage of artists seem to be a bit (or more than just a bit) crazy.  But I don't get the impression that most crazy people are particularly artistic.

[Minimalist]

What are you mad about?

[Exian]

I'm pretty creative (musical, drawings, turn of a phrase), but I never considered myself artistic the way others have described me. Also, my creative side has fallen off somewhat somewhere along the way, due to responsibilities.

Do you think this is because I'm not mad enough?

Do you see a difference in "creative" and "artistic"?

[Iroscato]

If you've got such mad genius artistic skillz, why is your sig picture broken?

[Rev. Rye]

If you're so smart why aren't you rich? Sorry I'm channeling my dead grandfather. He wasn't really such a very nice man.

Here's a nicer question: Do you think madness and artist genius are related? I consider myself pretty artistic and I do have a rather distinctive style, but I not Picasso setting off to set the art world on it's ear. Would it help if I were mad like Van Gogh. Do I have one ear too many?

Rich: The economy sucks and it's difficult to get published in places that people actually read.

Madness and genius: Yes. I think we see the world in a very different way from most people, and either we can't cope with it or people just don't understand us. In my case, I think it's both.

What do you get depressed about?

Child abusers going unpunished, the fact that the world is skipping towards totalitarianism, the fact that Nick Cassavetes' The Notebook made more money than all his father John's films combined, human complacency in the face of evil, the fact that, of all the teachers I've known, only two of them have read any of Nathanael West's works, you know, the usual.

I'm pretty creative (musical, drawings, turn of a phrase), but I never considered myself artistic the way others have described me. Also, my creative side has fallen off somewhat somewhere along the way, due to responsibilities.

Do you think this is because I'm not mad enough?

Do you see a difference in "creative" and "artistic"?

No, life gets in the way. It's happened to me a lot.

As for the difference between creative and artistic, I think it's complicated. I consider artistic a subset of creative, but, then again, I believe one can be artistic without being creative (if an artist just rips off other artists wholesale without doing anything new with it.)

If you've got such mad genius artistic skillz, why is your sig picture broken?

Because Imageshack sucks, and I can't remember where I made the "Rev. Rye, as harmless as kitchen" pic in the first place.