three sided coin, and counting

Yes, so, there are more sides to this i-word coin (see previous post). I've been thinking on it again... again during the times when I should be sleeping. First-- I like to picture the version of two people inspiring one another-- it's very give-and-take-- almost romantic, in a big picture sense. Like Inuit throat singers, who have to be face to face, and who complete the song only with one another. A picture of two people impressing one another is a farce-- a series of poses, and all of it remaining pretty safe-unto-thyself. But the other side of this coin (or the shape that a three-sided coin would become- a parabolic pyramid) is introspection. I honestly can't really move ahead for very long as an artist if I think TOO much about audience while I'm working. Sure-- the thoughts come in like thread into a fabric. "I wonder what so-and-so would think of this?" "Would so-and-so find this trite?" "So-and-so will love this." But ultimately, the work is only satisfying when it satisfies an inner hunger to see something emerge that I've never seen before. To tell a piece of the story that I haven't heard quite this way... and that part of it, for me, is pretty mysterious. The reason it's always compelling is that it's elusive. I say this because I think that work with a clear audience agenda at the helm is extraordinarily difficult to carry off with grace, whether it's political, religious or moralistic-- work, in other words, designed to inspire. Not impossible, but very difficult.