This is torture!
I just came to the troubling perception that artists could, in fact, be cursed individuals. Cursed with a sickness. They’re not conventional, in a sense. Their talents are an incurable disease. And their work is the only known pill that’s keeping them alive, sane and worth jack!
When you think of the great artists that ever lived, there seems to be a common thread. Though, not a pleasing one. Look at Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Morrison and Cobain, to name a few. It’s a little scary, if you ask me.
So, if you consider yourself an artist but can actually survive a day without creativity being the absolute center of your universe, you ought to think twice. Being one is like a citizenship. Or a race, almost. You belong, whether you like it or not, to a world outside the usual one. Your innate sense and constant craving for creativity is the chasm that separates you from the rest of the average crowd. It’s you and them. You’re here and they’re there. There’s a distance, alright. Sometimes it’s not much, sometimes it is great. It can be a lonely and demanding place where you are a slave over your desire for accomplishment rather than your need to eat and have a warm place to stay.
Crazy! It’s torture, I’m tellin’ ya!
However, I took a test and was proven wrong. Dagnabit! My ego is bruised.
Whaddya mean I’m normal?
I should be happy. I have a normal life. I have no artistic ability and I am not cursed with the realiztion that everyone is an idiot, because I am one.
Scary. I could be a walking contradiction.
But, what do I know now?
Chris Alma José 
I am 59% tortured artist, the test tells me.
I don’t think we should put much faith in that test. For starters, the glaring typos stop me from taking it seriously. In fact, I think that should be enough of a reason. The test itself had a disclaimer that it’s not a scientific measurement. LOL.
“When you think of the great artists that ever lived, there seems to be a common thread. Though, not a pleasing one.” <— What is this negative common thread? That they’re all tortured? I think all people are tortured by something, be it money (if they’re greedy) or perfection (if they’re vain). Artists just pour their attentions on the metaphysical. That’s why they don’t care if they don’t bathe or eat — those things belong to the physical realm.
I hate it when people assume that artists have to be angsty and suicidal. I know a lot of artists who are are quite grounded. The torture comes from the inability to cope but this is something that even non-artists have a problem with.
Many of the items in that test point to our earlier discussion about the right and left brain hemispheres. It’s a misconception that all artists are strongly right-brained. Many are left-brained but it doesn’t make them less of an artist. Had I answered yes to keeping a messy room or getting kicked out of my own exhibit, I would have gotten higher. But those are all just stereotypes like the disclaimer said.
300 songs in 40 years. An eye for capturing life in a snapshot. Words of introspection and depth. You’re an artist. Dagnabit (this cracks me up), you are! 😀
I am 16% a tortured artist. SAD DAY! That test is MEAN! hahaha! 😉
I am 24% tortured artist. I am normal. Damn.
I am 54% tortured. I was shooting for a higher rating. I feel I am much more tortured than that. Maybe my score was lower than I expected because I no longer have a ‘durg’ problem since giving up ‘carck.’ Fun test!