Tortured artists
Related: Byronic hero - stock character - torture - artist
List of tortured artists: Jackson Pollock - Egon Schiele - Vincent van Gogh
Definition
The tortured artist is a stock character and stereotype, who is in constant ferment due to frustrations with art and other people. The tortured artist feels alienated and misunderstood due to what he/she perceives as the ignorance or neglect of others who do not understand them, and the things they feel are important.
They sometimes [often] smoke, are sexually frustrated [hyperactive], and appear overwhelmed by their own emotions and inner conflicts. The tortured artist is often mocked in popular culture for being attention seeking, narcissistic, or just adverse to happiness. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortured_artist [Jul 2006]
Tortured Artists 101
Tortured Artists 101
Clever montage of biopics of tortured artists. From the introduction: "I know it's a little redundant because most artists are tortured artists.". There is a part two which is just a montage of film clips without the commentary. This is by Evadeadbeat and Margot. Eva also has a documentary film on Brueghel which stresses Brueghel as one of the first artists bringing realism in the visual arts, presenting us with "snapshots" of peasant life in the 16th century. Margot has this persiflage of Jacques Lacan. Eva runs http://deadbeatdirt.blogspot.com/.