Takashi Murakami and Being Successful
"The greatest painting is emptiness."
Takashi Murakami is somewhat of a philosopher as well as an artist. But along with his philosophical views about art, people, the world, energy, and color he understands humans, and he understands what it is to interact with each other on Earth.
At any given time Murakami has 100s of people working under him. These people are very well-trained, well-educated artists, but they're doing very machine-like work. Intern work, if you will. Along with the work these amazing humans are doing for Murakami he also yells at them daily to make his paintings perfect. They work long hours finishing the work he cannot. They literally work on their hands and knees to get the colors and marks correct. Now, before I start making Murakami sound like the bad guy, he understands the balance within life. He understands that with what he puts his employees through he must benefit them in some way. Murakami fully supports his employees in their own careers. He is one of the very, very few famous contemporary artists who want to support their employees in moving on and building their own individual brands. He helps them leave his company, start their own, and gives them advice on how to be successful as an artist.
Murakami made it big. He is one of the most successful artists alive today. But, that is how the media portrays success. So, what does it actually mean to be successful? Does it mean being famous, being rich, selling art across the world, being happy, all of the above? I don't think Murakami would define his success by making it big, and becoming rich. I think he would define his success by the number of people he impacts with his art. This is purely personal. Success is personal.
So, to define success for yourself you need to start with an "artist" statement. Or whatever kind of statement you want to call it, but the formula is simple: who am I, what do I do, what inspires me, where am I right now, and where do I want to go? Answering those 5 questions can lay out your personal success. It is figuring out what you like, what you dislike, what makes you happy, and what makes you unhappy. Once you figure those things out you know how to define your own success. If that is money, happiness, stress management, a big family, a lot of pets, a wonderful lover, whatever, it doesn't matter! Being successful is defined differently by everyone, and this is a wonderful, wonderful thing to realize.
Takashi Murakami is somewhat of a philosopher as well as an artist. But along with his philosophical views about art, people, the world, energy, and color he understands humans, and he understands what it is to interact with each other on Earth.
At any given time Murakami has 100s of people working under him. These people are very well-trained, well-educated artists, but they're doing very machine-like work. Intern work, if you will. Along with the work these amazing humans are doing for Murakami he also yells at them daily to make his paintings perfect. They work long hours finishing the work he cannot. They literally work on their hands and knees to get the colors and marks correct. Now, before I start making Murakami sound like the bad guy, he understands the balance within life. He understands that with what he puts his employees through he must benefit them in some way. Murakami fully supports his employees in their own careers. He is one of the very, very few famous contemporary artists who want to support their employees in moving on and building their own individual brands. He helps them leave his company, start their own, and gives them advice on how to be successful as an artist.
Murakami made it big. He is one of the most successful artists alive today. But, that is how the media portrays success. So, what does it actually mean to be successful? Does it mean being famous, being rich, selling art across the world, being happy, all of the above? I don't think Murakami would define his success by making it big, and becoming rich. I think he would define his success by the number of people he impacts with his art. This is purely personal. Success is personal.
So, to define success for yourself you need to start with an "artist" statement. Or whatever kind of statement you want to call it, but the formula is simple: who am I, what do I do, what inspires me, where am I right now, and where do I want to go? Answering those 5 questions can lay out your personal success. It is figuring out what you like, what you dislike, what makes you happy, and what makes you unhappy. Once you figure those things out you know how to define your own success. If that is money, happiness, stress management, a big family, a lot of pets, a wonderful lover, whatever, it doesn't matter! Being successful is defined differently by everyone, and this is a wonderful, wonderful thing to realize.
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