What is “Art, Interrupted”?

Art, Interrupted is a movement, or rather an immovement about life and how life and all of it’s intricacies can set pause on the ability of an artist to create.

Life gets in the way. Art takes a back seat.

The trouble with mental illness and or disorders is that they add a new complicated layer to the idea of family, providing for that family, drive, ambition and reality. Depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, OCD amongst others are all triggers for procrastination (which in itself is an affliction) and artists block. Suffering from one, or any combination of those afflictions, paired with the aforementioned life responsibilities, makes for a lethal combination and contribute to the premise of Art, Interrupted.

(Disclaimer: If you feel you suffer from any of these conditions, please seek professional help. The first step is the most important.)

For myself, procrastination has been a monkey on my back that I’ve carried for near 40 years. While it’s easy to blow it off as an excuse, or chalk it up to laziness (which isn’t to say it’s not), I search for deeper meaning and reasoning. Turning inside, I look back at my life and see all of the signs of motivation and inspiration. My parents always encouraged my imagination and supplied me with comic books, while my grandparents always fostered my artistic side by giving me pens and paper. My aunt always praised my work and kept it on display for everyone to see.

So what could hold me back?

Could it be work getting in the way? Could it by my obsession with girls? Could it be my social life and lifestyle? Could it be lack of accessibility to the tools required? Could it be family life? Could it be lack of motivation? Or could it just be all in my head?

Personal responsibility. I could take any one of those “excuses” and mold it into the justification needed to fit my reasoning. But at what point am I culpable for my own fate? 

The only way to move forward is to turn around and walk away from those “excuses” and place pencil to paper, paint to brush, ink to nib. How to be inspired, motivated, prodded along. Which direction? What is the next movement? 

Welcome the immovement of Art, Interrupted.