In last week’s essay on the Evolution of the Solopreneur, Austin documented how solo individual practitioners have begun transitioning into full, self-governing collectives, with groups like Water & Music, Songcamp, and Song A DAO all examples of this trend.
More of us are turning towards the power of creating in groups, but rewriting our internal programming isn’t always easy. Many of us are still trapped in the myth of the lone creative genius who works in isolation to produce brilliance.
A work that’s greatly helped Public Record better understand why the lone genius myth is a myth (and trace some of the myth’s origins) is Ellen Mara De Wachter’s Co-Art: Artists on Creative Collaboration (Phaidon). The book features interviews with 25 artist duos and collectives about the creative and emotional nature of their collaborative practices. Public Record sat down with Ellen to discuss her findings. Here’s some of what she told us.
“The lone heroic genius is a concept that increasingly doesn't hold up to scrutiny. That's something that people who work collaboratively know.”
Ellen says the focus on single authorship often leaves out key voices from the picture.
“If you think about Jackson Pollock, working in a solitary way with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, heavy alcoholism, and throwing paint on the floor in a really expressive and powerful way, he incarnates that myth of the lone genius. But the reality is a little different than that. He worked very closely with his wife, Lee Krasner, and she sometimes suggested titles for the works, and they discussed her work. There was a real collaborative activity going on.”
The focus on single authorship is cultural and structural.
“There's an example I cite in the book, where the contract for the commission of the work stipulated that the author, and only the author, could touch certain parts of the work, even though the work might have been made by a workshop — which was common for most artworks at that point. Different people were part of a workshop. For example, some people had specialisms painting hands or some people had specialisms painting landscapes, and so they would work all together and the master would sign his name, and it would be attributed to him; it was him most often. That has been inherited through hundreds of years of the patriarchal system that we are still subjected to now.”
Co-Art examines architectural collectives, activist groups, and even romantic partners who share an art practice, and finds an emotional connection is key to their success.
“Friendship is a central component of it. Many of them are lovers or long term romantic partners. Some of them are ex-romantic partners. Some are family siblings. [Being in a creative partnership is] an expression of choice that people have chosen to work together. Loyalty, trust, and the fact that they're not bound contractually — they're backed by love of some kind — that's what I would say is the umbrella motivator in some way. If you walk away from your job, you might be in trouble with the company. But if you walk away from a creative relationship it might be heartbreaking.”
Finally, Ellen observes that neither total individualism or total collectivism is the goal.
"I don't think the collective is served by an erasure of individuality. I think it's essential to be both an individual and part of a group. For collaboration to be sound, there should be an ability to exist both within and without the group—to toggle between and to freely move between."
Read Public Record’s full interview with Ellen Mara De Wachter here. Learn more about Co-Art: Artists on Creative Collaboration here.
Upcoming members event: Release therapy
In next week’s Release Therapy, we’ll be joined by the founder of a new multiplayer writing tool called Crowdwrite to hear his plans for releasing and growing his project, and the group will help by sharing their feedback, insights, and questions.
When: Thursday, 27 October, 1 pm EST
Location: Metalabel Discord
Learn more about becoming a member of Metalabel here.
We’ll be back next week with another dive into creative collaboration.
Peace and love,
Anna &
Austin &
Brandon &
Ilya &
Lauren &
Rob &
Yancey &
Metalabel