I thought I’d switch things up a bit and share my views on a couple of recent articles in The Guardian. Apparently, Van Gogh may not have chopped off his own ear. There’s speculation that his former friend and French Artist Paul Gauguin may have sliced off Van Gogh’s ear with a fencing blade during an argument. Does his lack of self-mutilation tendencies somehow make Van Gogh less of an artist? (Well, an “ear-less” I suppose!).

Zoe Williams of The Guardian proceeded to give us an earful (pun intended) as she spun the topic into a debate about the merit of artistic eccentricities and the potential bogus nature thereof. If I understand her correctly, she contends that many supposed artists or rather, people who strive to be artistic, use their chosen career as an excuse to be careless and participate in potentially self-harming activities such as drinking too much or using drugs. She indicates “genius proceeds from incredibly hard work,” and I beg to differ.

I believe “success” proceeds from incredibly hard work, but genius is something rather innate. Either you have it, or you don’t. Potentially, there are many geniuses that have come and gone and we’ve probably never heard their name. For whatever reason, their genius wasn’t recognized, probably because they never put the work in to find the success that would have resulted in fame.

Along that same vein, can we really say that one artist or another was an alcoholic because they were artists? Or that they were artists because they were alcoholics? Will alcohol bring out the artist within any of us? Would an artist’s creative mind become lacking if they quit drinking? Personally, I don’t think that drinking has much to do with artistic abilities, but the reasons behind excessive drinking might.

True, as Ms. Williams indicated, “self-harm among real people more often than not coincides with self-esteem and depression issues.” Edgar Allen Poe was known to be an alcoholic. He was also extremely depressed (if you don’t believe me, re-read The Raven). Historically, many gifted writers, musicians and artists have been depressed; Kurt Cobain, for instance. And many who suffered from depression suffered from addiction. More than likely, the depression leads to the addiction.

Why are so many artists depressed? Does a creative mind lend itself more towards the darker side of the human psyche? Some artists, I suppose, do have to be a little off kilter to give it a go in their field. The term “starving artist” is certainly not antiquated.

So, I’m not sure that creative genius relies on a drink, drug or self-mutilation, but that which gives them their talent may also be their Achilles heel making them more susceptible to negative coping mechanisms. And we do sort of forgive them for their indulgences.

Sure, we have plenty of supposed artists that claim to be depressed or use their self-proclaimed artist status as an excuse for their recent public display of extreme intoxication. One cannot just don a pair of custom musician’s earplugs and call oneself an artist, after all!

So, while I’ll read “The Tell-tale Heart” with extreme admiration for Poe’s creative, depressed and drunken mind and I’ll listen to “Lithium” and feel sorrow for Cobain’s torturous mind that led to his art and his death, when it comes to the posers, I’ll kindly grab my foam earplugs and tune out the blarney.