Spiders live by the law of persistent hard work. They rise above, unmoving, awaiting prey and predators. No matter the palace, they wait on the ceiling. Quietly meditating on their next move. Prepared to trap or die.

Spiders, like a genius, needs no schooling to perform the necessary operation for survival. What they do with thread is no different than Leonardo DiVinci’s approach to sketching. He drew in constant effort to achieve greater accuracy through practice. 

Look around your home and you will see the leftover residue of a spider in practice. Appearing where the eye can see, and, at times, where the eye can’t. Leaving a trail of their existence behind like discarded self-portraits. 

Spiders are creative. 

But also selfish. 

Invasive. 

Violent. 

Ready to trap or die at a moment's notice. 

Spiders don’t self-aggrandize. 

They are too small for an ego.

Escaping what so many artists suffer from: 

Doubt. 

Artists who create art how a spider uses its web has less doubt than artists who perform creativity solely for profit.

Profitable art is what Oscar Wilde was referring to in the preface of Dorian Grey: 

“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it”

One could remix the sentiment, rewriting as:

“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he isn’t admired for it.”

Unfortunately, the artist is big enough to have an ego, and the ego desires admiration. Admiration corrupts creativity. 

I have a theory that art made for praise rarely gets the widespread attention as art made in play. Tyler, The Creator made "Yonkers" in jest. Nirvana's "Smell Like Teen Spirit" was also made as a joke. 

Both songs went further, commercially, than serious songs that are also considered classics. 

My guess: People like jokes. 

Humanity has lasted this long thanks to laughing at, laughing with, or laughing because of a jester. 

Once the artist becomes a business, they stop having fun. Play is now a job. And a job will make you miserable. Eroding the reasons why you played in the first place. 

With business also comes admiration. Admiration makes the artist more important than their art. Attention inflates the ego. Ego makes the artist a flooding toilet that needs to be plunged or else they will make pompous art. 

Pompous art is what Oscar Wilde referred to when he wrote:

“All art is quite useless.”

So don't waste your time making useless art pursuing validation. 

No one likes an attention whore.

by Yoh

Illustration by Christian Arnder