The artist's job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence."

I'll be the first to admit that Woody Allen has been more than a little controversial in his tastes and moral inclinations, but I could easily justify carrying his children for being such an accessible and down-right blue collar type of artist. 

Watch Midnight In Paris by Woody Allen.  Then watch the recent documentary on his life.  Actually, maybe watch the doc first because it begs the follow up of devouring the rest of his films. 

Here is a man who, for lack of some austere monk like devotion to conversion ephiphany of creating the "perfect" peice of art, has consistently made film after film for years because that is what he does. 

He says in the documentary something to the effect of, "I don't worry about whether a film will be great or not, I just figure, if I keep making them, I'll get it right sooner or later." 

All I am saying is that if one has the desire to create or paint or tell stories or dance, one should do it and leave quality to the critics.  It is only in the tango of creation that antidotes can be found, that new improvisations come out which may hold a cure for the "emptiness of existence." 

The truly beautiful aspect of this quote (From Midnight In Paris) is that emptiness is a philosophical concept, which, in its very existence, takes up space.  As modern quantum physics tells us, there is space between everything, even things that feel solid.  So space then, or emptiness, is actually the substance that makes up everything...and finding a way to play with all that space, is possibly, why so few dare to call themselves artists.  It's a big notion, being a kid in a sandbox with a brush or a keyboard as your shovel as you attempt to build castles out of galaxies of sheer space. 

Where do you even start?

You pick up your tool and start to push ideas around.  You add a little water and time and keep mushing things together in ways that please YOU.  You laugh. You holler.  You stay up all night and keep playing in your galactic emptiness with all the joy and passion and hope you can dream up.

So thank you Woody Allen, for reminding me that we combat despair by providing alternatives.  They may all be different strains of the same spaciousness, but we can craft new flavors and shades to color our days.