How Does Chaos Inspire Art?

Chaos and art go hand in hand.

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Unless you live under a rock, in a cave somewhere, or are otherwise utterly disconnected from the world (and since you’re reading this, I know that you’re not) you’re aware of how chaotic it all is. Between the current US Administration being utterly backward and misguided, wars around the globe, economic upheavals, and more, it feels like order is out to lunch.

It feels, at least to me, like the world is more chaotic than ever. It’s like this is all completely mad, nothing is making sense, and the surreal is dominating. I find that I can barely make heads or tails of much of anything, and uncertainty is never comfortable.

Some people can ignore this. Others can and do consciously choose to turn away. I prefer to do something about it. But what can I do? The answer I have: Keep making art.

While that can feel disingenuous, privileged, and maybe tone-deaf, the truth is that it’s not. There’s a long history of chaos inspiring art. One of the most impressive examples I know of is Pablo Picasso’s Guernica.

Art is necessary because it records history, provides context, offers distraction, and shows new perspectives to the world. Without that, we become dull, uninspired, and less joyful.

Life is too short to let joy be robbed from it.

The opposite of chaos is order

When I began my Source Chronicles fantasy novels, along the way I had something of an epiphany. Though it began as an epic tale of good versus evil, I found a different, more interesting trope: Chaos versus order.

The caveat to this is that order is as natural as chaos. Both are products of their times, environments, and so on. They are yin and yang. You cannot have order without chaos or chaos without order.

Both can be created artificially. Observe the current Trump administration for how to make chaos via artifice. Why are they doing this? To make order out of yet another artifice.

The point is that chaos and order are opposites. Neither, in and of itself, is good nor evil, they are natural forces like the weather. Because chaos is a normal part of life and it can serve to inspire art.

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Inspiration comes from lots of places

If you look into many of the greats, you’ll find that inspiration is often born of tragedy. Lots of bad things lead to amazing creations. Ergo, chaos inspires art.

How? By providing contrast that the artist employs to build something new. The painting, sculpture, poem, book, song, and so on is formed as a reaction to chaos. Additionally, the creation of that art is a way to spin order out of the chaos.

Again, this is natural order, and more akin to making sense out of the senseless (as opposed to forcing a brand or “order” for dominance, control, and worse.) Making art inspired by chaos is how you can gain understanding of the world around you.

Tragedy can and does inspire art. So does triumph. Chaos, senselessness, fear, and anger all inspire art just as much as order, logic, resolve, and joy do.

This is also why certain groups and organizations censor and ban works of art. Forced, unnatural “order” in light of what they consider unnatural “chaos”.

Chaos is natural

One of the worst things about modern tech is that the immediacy of the internet and global communications has created hyper-awareness. Yet that has nothing to do with self-awareness. Hyper-awareness is all about things way, way out of our control that used to be barely known.

Don’t get me wrong, information is power. But disinformation and speculation can be hugely disempowering. When the narrative turns chaos into a villain, you get wars, fascist governments, and scared people easily manipulated. This has made it possible to form cults of vastly diverse people to work against their own self-interests by exploiting their hyper-awareness.

Art is a means to break that down and use natural chaos to spin natural order. Art helps us make sense of the world in an abstract way that empowers people. That’s why and how chaos inspires art.

No matter how scary, weird, uncertain, and unfathomable life might be, your art is a beacon of natural order. Let it shine and keep dreaming, creating, and putting yourself and your art into the world.

Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you every week, please consider this: How are you inspired and empowered to be your own creator, whatever form that takes?

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