Post #536508 by woofmutt on Tue, Jun 15, 2010 3:51 PM

"Take Kinny Ruzick for example. Look in the dick-tionary under sociopath, and there's a shot of the Ruzic. Not a psychopath, mind you, but textbook sociopath...and that has allowed him to become a great artist."

Yeah, well, no. If anything Liloti is irritatingly outgoing bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy fun fun fun fun fun. The only sociopathological thing about Liloti is that he will actually stick to personal goals of studio time and make his "Goodnights!" brisk and final not worrying if he appears rude and dismissive.

"my theory is that artists are anti-social and/or anti-authority by nature. that is why they go into art...because for whatever reason, they are not suited for the regular work-a-day world."

That's a fairly popular theory but one that I've not seen much evidence of in real life. The artists I've met and known have generally been outgoing, friendly, people who love exchanging ideas and opinions. Sure, many of them are raving alcoholic chain smokers but they're usually the good kind of alcoholic. The less fun side: Some of them suffer from crippling depression and when that hits them they're usually definitely antisocial.

In my experience craftspeople usually tend to be the antisocial ones. This includes clocksmiths, gunsmiths, and the regular kind of smiths. These people generally prefer to be left alone with their craft. They answer questions grudgingly and could care less if you think they do incredible work. The only reason most of them even have a shop is because they need to make a living. With craftspeople it seems to be them and the object of their craft and they see people as something that just messes up the object.