Disturbing art a sign of mental instability?

[Epicspoon]

It might be, but so what? We need more mental instability in this world! Come join the dark side, we have cookies!

really? awesome. tell me when these songs are finished. The Elite Beat Agent within me thinks these could be useful.

 

[Epicspoon]

Well, most artists tend to put their mind out there with their art so maybe it could be.

EDIT: I remember now.

That most great artists have had some sort of mental instability anyways. If you really wanted to make a living of your art the bat-shit crazy would be the best way to go

Most people will probably praise you and say you're just "misunderstood" by the commonfolk

Noooo IM misunderstood by the common-folk. and they all think my gaming is a waste of time. Well I don't see THEM saving the universe from any cosmic horrors!

YOU DON'T NEED TO BE CRAZY TO BE MISUNDERSTOOD!!! LOOK AT ME! IM PERFECTLY FINE!!!!

WAARRRRRGGGRRRRRBBLLLL *proceeds to foam at the mouth*


....... am I famous yet?

 

[tobyornottoby]

People who don't have any kind of mental unstability will never be artists =p
If art is used as a form of expression, the urge to create art, to express, means that something somewhere doesn't feel quite right.

As others are saying, it's a cow is an animal, animal isn't a cow thingy. Violent people playing violent games doesn't mean playing violent games makes violent people.

 

[XMark]

Everyone has an interest in the macabre. It's an entirely normal part of human nature. Otherwise, the horror genre wouldn't exist.

 

[Phishfood]

It might well be that some mentally disturbed people have a habit of drawing disturbing art, but on its own its meaningless.

Apparently the fact that my doodles are all straight lines and points means I'm going to murder someone. Couple that with the fact we are here on a gaming website, clearly the pair of us are psychopaths a hair away from cracking. Or something.

I'd say this is the usual case of someone spotted some kind of weak correlation and now its being taken out of context and exaggerated.

 

[Biosophilogical]

-snip-

As far as I'm concerned, 'disturbing art' is like talking to yourself. It can be a symptom of mental instability, but just because you make disturbing artwork doesn't mean you are crazy.

 

[Maximum_Power_Cheese_Supreme]

Art is generally the way to help deal with the things that disturb you, and appeals to others for the exact same reason. If you didn't have some movie or novel or album that you can relate to you may feel like there's something wrong with you, and that may lead you to do something violent.

Well I like David Lynch movies, and Radiohead's later work, and that could be considered disturbing to most people, but it offers me a comfort that there are people out there like me and that I'm not a freak or crazy nut.

I think the only good art is those that tackle with scary disturbing truths, and who better to do that task then those with experience. It doesn't mean we want to kill ourselves or kill others. It means we can understand the basic psychology behind ourselves to improve our lives and be happier.

However I don't think we should make huge conclusions of people based on their work.

 

[Mr Thin]

do you think that any sort of artist's work is a reflection of them

Yes.

to the point that you can make a psychological profile based upon it?

No.

Problem solved, you're not crazy, have fun drawing zombies. Or if you are crazy, it's not because you're drawing zombies, and drawing zombies isn't necessarily an indication of said craziness. But you already knew this; you just wanted reassurance.

TARGET LOCKED! FULL POWER! ACTIVATE THE REASSURANCE BEAM! *pshwoom*

There you go.

 

[HardkorSB]

So, first of all, I draw. I hesitate to call myself an artist because I've never been paid for it

What does money have to do with being an artist?

Recently, I had an acquaintance tell me that drawings with macabre or disturbing undertones (or as the outright theme) is a product of mental instability - she told me that, because of the themes of my drawings, I'm more likely to become a mass murderer or something. Apparently, I'll also never be able to get a steady job after college.

About the instability, that might be true, to an extent. All the other stuff, pretty much bullshit.

do you think that any sort of artist's work is a reflection of them to the point that you can make a psychological profile based upon it? Have any of you who draw, or write, or use any other sort of artistic outlet, been told something like this?

That depends on how deep you're invested in your art but yeah, I believe you can. I've tried that with some people I know who happen to be different kinds of artists (psychology is one of my hobbies so I like to "read" other people) and even without detailed research, there was something to be found there.
For example, how much a person's art reflects the current trends in art can show you that person's level of conformity, how much influence does the outside world has on him/her, etc.what the person thinks about.
The themes can tell you what the person thinks about.
The style and technique can suggest how a person forms thoughts.

You just have to study it rather thoroughly to be able to "read" people accurately.

 

[Maximum_Power_Cheese_Supreme]

But you already knew this; you just wanted reassurance.

TARGET LOCKED! FULL POWER! ACTIVATE THE REASSURANCE BEAM! *pshwoom*

There you go.

That's about right for almost every thread on the escapist. (Or putting a game on your wishlist, you might as well just buy it now cause you're going to buy it eventually.)

 

[similar.squirrel]

Mental instability necessarily a bad thing?

 

[Doctor Brobotnik]

So, first of all, I draw. I hesitate to call myself an artist because I've never been paid for it

You make art? You're an artist :] material bonus is just material bonus.

I think art is a reflection of personality, and that people can just be drawn (lololo) to certain themes, but it really does depend on the person. Someone can draw zombies eating the flesh of some poor scantily-clad lady in curiously precise detail because they simply 'like zombies'. Same with any kind of morbid theme.

Of course, I'm sure there are people out there who can magic-mirror the shit out of thier artwork.

It all depends on the person, I think.

 

[tigermilk]

Adolf Hitler's paintings were on the whole mundane and fom what I can gather were never cited as a signifier of his capacity for evil.

The OP's friend offered no evidence (or it has not been included in the post). I doubt there will be much sympathy for their opinion.

OP: Why not post/link some of your work to offer a little context?

 

[Nouw]

Depends, is Giger mentally unstable or over-the-top awesome?

 

[Yokai]

I doubt it, unless you're obsessed with it. I knew a kid in high school who loved to draw all sorts of morbid nonsense, and wrote reasonably fucked-up short stories as well, and I always worried about him a bit. Even he would take a break and draw a mermaid every now and then, though, so it's safe to say you can't gauge someone's entire personality through a small selection of their art.

I'm an artist as well--and yeah, you can call yourself that without earning a living off it. Hell, I draw zombies too (I drew a rendition of various Minecraft mobs that creeps even me out) and I've never been told I'm unstable. Although it is good, even just from an artistic perspective, to add a little variety to your work. So if almost everything you draw is zombies, take a break and try something new for a little while!

 

[surg3n]

Sounds like psychobabble to me, tell her to shut up and punch her in the ovaries. Sorry, that's more than what's called for.

Anyway, I often doodle, post-it notes and the like, and it can get pretty weird - angry little faces, men on cliffs, a retard chasing a wasp with a badminton raquet... Really I just like to doodle, practice shading with a ball point, the subject matter is just my way of annoying my assistant... she's probably a bit like your friend, and likes to read between the lines between the lines.
The fact that you see your pictures as a little off should tell you that your not mental. See, a true mentalist would be proud of the drawings, and wouldn't see a problem with them. Maybe, to keep your friend happy, put a more ironic twist on your work. Instead of having a zombie eat someones brain, have it eat a meatball sub. Just do a couple of funny sketches to proove that it's not the drooled-on scribblings of a serial killer.

I, like a lot of people see sketching as a vent, don't let people block your vent.

 

[2xDouble]

No, "dark art" is not a sign of mental illness, at least, not by itself. It can be treated as a symptom of deeper problems, however, in conjunction with other unusual behaviors, such as: emotional disconnect (not at all the same as being morose or sullen); fixation on death, dying, and/or murder (not the same as fascination or curiosity in the "goth" style); callous and random killing of animals (not the same as hunting); and inability to distinguish fantasy and reality.

In fact, it's the ones who don't express their feelings into some sort of outlet (be it art, music, poetry, sports, video games, writing speeches on the internet, whatever...) that are statistically the most likely disturbed.

 

[LordFisheh]

I've heard of social workers using childrens' artwork to analyze their psychological condition, but I haven't heard of the same techniques being applied to adult artists. Several serial killers were known for their disturbing drawings, but the vast majority of people who make weird art are not serial killers (as far as we know).

At least in the UK, that kind of thing is all too often followed by a huge news story about social workers blindly following their selected conclusion and backing it up with every piece of 'evidence' they can twist to their argument. One mother was accused of 'hugging her child for too long' If I remember correctly that was used to support taking the child into care.

I don't mean to insult the competent members of the social services, but with the kind of things we hear at least in Britain and see on shows like Dispatches, I wouldn't take most of their cases as reliable evidence as to how to find mental health problems.

Really, I think this just comes down to the age old central failing of humanity. It's scary, or we don't understand it, or it's outside the norm, or it makes us think. It's a threat. So we distance ourselves from it (by saying it's a sign of a serial killer, perhaps) and destroy it if we can.

 

[GLo Jones]

It's a sign of open-mindedness, comfort with exploring the darker aspects of ourselves, and a person in touch with the current themes among our general culture (it used to be aliens, then out-of-control machines, now zombies).

If you ask me, that's also a sign of perfectly healthy individual, and an interesting one, at that.