Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 16, 2023Liked by Franklin Einspruch
WOOF. Thank you. This is some truth and it does hurt... it hurts me to see someone as accomplished and as gifted as Clifton Duncan feeling the kind of despair he's expressed recently. I know his work, and I'm also inspired by the voice he's brought through his Clifton Duncan Podcast--he has contributed enormously, giving a platform for wonderful artists and thinkers and guiding every conversation with grace, with authenticity and a truly constructive intent. As an actor myself of over 30 years, and one grappling, as so many of us are, with what's happened to the arts in this environment...I can only say that I believe that we, as actors, have an advantage: we have built up resilience and stubbornness and a belief in ourselves that a life in theatre demands. And even though all this is being sorely tested right now... I have to believe that there will be more work, more creative opportunity--it just takes the courage of like minded artists to speak out. Clifton has put himself on the line, and that's a lonely place to be. I offer W.B. Yeats' "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come To Nothing" which speaks feelingly to all this:
The fact is that going along with the crowd or the fashion is easier, more convenient and safer. So many people don't do it for nothing--it tends to pay better than not doing it, even if it is shallow, hollow and impersonal. The more in touch one is with one's self, and the truer one is to that, the greater the chance of not fitting in and sticking out as an outlier or misfit, and that can have a price.
Walking along once in my twenties, I was fretting about whether I would get to have a (conventional) life if I am to to be who I actually am. Then, as I reflected on the nightmare of convention, the question arose: Yea, though I end up on a street corner hugging a bottle, would I believe that I am the one who missed out? A gravel truck lifted off of my shoulders.
It would be great to collect your works as NFTs f.e. on the Tezos Blockchain, check out for example objkt.com market place or many others. I am convinced that NFTs will help a lot of artists to become more independent. Best regards, Hans
Even very materially successful people with lots of money, who one would think could afford to be themselves and go their own way, as well as give the finger to those who don't like it, are all too often very observant of the prevailing fashionable orthodoxy, whether out of insecurity, weakness or fear. If such people wind up playing the role they're supposed to play, it's a wonder anybody doesn't do it.
This was not only powerful, but very much needed.
Thank you for taking the time to write this.
WOOF. Thank you. This is some truth and it does hurt... it hurts me to see someone as accomplished and as gifted as Clifton Duncan feeling the kind of despair he's expressed recently. I know his work, and I'm also inspired by the voice he's brought through his Clifton Duncan Podcast--he has contributed enormously, giving a platform for wonderful artists and thinkers and guiding every conversation with grace, with authenticity and a truly constructive intent. As an actor myself of over 30 years, and one grappling, as so many of us are, with what's happened to the arts in this environment...I can only say that I believe that we, as actors, have an advantage: we have built up resilience and stubbornness and a belief in ourselves that a life in theatre demands. And even though all this is being sorely tested right now... I have to believe that there will be more work, more creative opportunity--it just takes the courage of like minded artists to speak out. Clifton has put himself on the line, and that's a lonely place to be. I offer W.B. Yeats' "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come To Nothing" which speaks feelingly to all this:
Now all the truth is out,
Be secret and take defeat
From any brazen throat,
For how can you compete,
Being honor bred, with one
Who were it proved he lies
Were neither shamed in his own
Nor in his neighbors' eyes;
Bred to a harder thing
Than Triumph, turn away
And like a laughing string
Whereon mad fingers play
Amid a place of stone,
Be secret and exult,
Because of all things known
That is most difficult.
The fact is that going along with the crowd or the fashion is easier, more convenient and safer. So many people don't do it for nothing--it tends to pay better than not doing it, even if it is shallow, hollow and impersonal. The more in touch one is with one's self, and the truer one is to that, the greater the chance of not fitting in and sticking out as an outlier or misfit, and that can have a price.
Walking along once in my twenties, I was fretting about whether I would get to have a (conventional) life if I am to to be who I actually am. Then, as I reflected on the nightmare of convention, the question arose: Yea, though I end up on a street corner hugging a bottle, would I believe that I am the one who missed out? A gravel truck lifted off of my shoulders.
Thank you for this Franklin. 👍🏻
What's there to wait? Start a new era as Crypto artist now ;) I am probably one of your first collectors.
Here is a few of my stuff https://objkt.com/profile/hansi/created?page=4
Well said.
It would be great to collect your works as NFTs f.e. on the Tezos Blockchain, check out for example objkt.com market place or many others. I am convinced that NFTs will help a lot of artists to become more independent. Best regards, Hans
Even very materially successful people with lots of money, who one would think could afford to be themselves and go their own way, as well as give the finger to those who don't like it, are all too often very observant of the prevailing fashionable orthodoxy, whether out of insecurity, weakness or fear. If such people wind up playing the role they're supposed to play, it's a wonder anybody doesn't do it.