| My two (biggest) passions are code and the guitar. The latter I discovered after I found a html-guitar-course on my friend's laptop when I was 14 and simply went for it (I'm 32 now). Finding the former was more interesting. I started coding a little bit when I was 12/13-ish, but it was never more than the basics. Some QBasic, HTML and Visual Basic. I wanted to do an apprenticeship as a software-dev, but I guess my math-grades were too bad back then, and I was discouraged to pursue the path any further. So by 18 I did one in an unrelated field (banking) and during that started drawing/painting a lot. I thought I found my calling/passion/etc. and went to an artistic secondary school and studied Design in Munich (Graduated with a BA). Around the middle of Uni (26), I had posted a painting [1] to ConceptArt.org for critiques. I had spent several hours on that one. One respected and popular member mentioned, that the painting is nicely rendered and all, but it doesn't make sense; it has no message; it's saying nothing. That comment and lots of thinking made me realize that I actually wanted to _have painted_, and not really to paint. I had nothing to say, there was no purpose I wanted to fulfill by doing art, other than get likes and compliments. It took some time (years) until I was completely honest to myself regarding art. (Nowadays I do pixel-art, calligraphy and caricatures occasionally, but seldom) Thankfully, we had a very good HTML/CSS-Intro-Course in Uni, which enabled me to make a website for my friend's band, which helped me get an internship at an agency where I did design and HTML/CSS. I very quickly discovered what I should have known for 15 years: that coding and building digital stuff is my passion. I am still working there. Now as Senior Front-End-Developer. Every day I am grateful that I can work in this awesome (and well-paid) field, doing work I like and enjoy. [1] http://radovcic.blogspot.com/2011/01/guitar-girl-ii.html |
Oh, this resonates so much with me... But WRT purpose of art and it having a message, I don't think that that's a valid approach. I'm into writing fiction and poetry, and (also as a graduate in literature) believe that art is not a medium for messages. It's a form of reflection, exploration, thinking, experimentation. If there ever is a message, it's what the spectator/reader/listener collects.