Ever wondered if it’s possible to be TOO prepared as an artist? Because sometimes, preparation can become a hindrance to your true creativity. Preparation itself can become the block. Disagree? Read ahead to find out…
The Four Phases of Chronic Preparation Syndrome
When I talk about being too prepared as an artist, we are moving into the realms of what has been coined by the Quarantine team as: Chronic Preparation Syndrome. Chronic Preparation Syndrome (CPS for short) manifests in progressive phases, they explain. At its heart, it is the compulsive accumulation of training – when training and preparation can lead to the systematic avoidance of the execution of art itself. Training itself becomes the artist block. What should be a solid foundation, becomes the invisible cage.
What’s most terrifying about CPS? The creative who becomes stuck in these phases is rarely aware of the transition from one phase to the next. It can become impossible to see how to break free when you may not even realise what is happening.
So how do you know if you are suffering from Chronic Preparation Syndrome? Thankfully, Quarantine recently leaked some of their research into the depths of this curious problem:
Phase 1: Accumulation.
The artist studies composition before composing, learns anatomy before drawing, reads about light before painting it. This phase feels like rigor. Like high standards. Like doing things properly. It feels like virtue.
Phase 2: Escalation.
Each completed course opens the door to the next. Each closed book reveals everything the patient has yet to master. The gap between what they know and what they do widens.
Phase 3: Translation.
When the patient finally paints, they don’t paint. They translate. They attempt to transfer the perfect idea in their head into the language of paint. The translation always loses something. The result never matches the idea, and they find this intolerable.
Phase 4: Loop.
The patient resolves that they need more study. This conclusion feels like intelligence, like humility, like healthy self-criticism. It is a loop. Each lap takes the patient one step further from the work they’ve been postponing for years.
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The symptoms:
Compulsive accumulation of training. Systematic avoidance of execution. Panic toward risk and loss of control. High levels of satisfaction during study that vanish upon contact with canvas. Reports feeling “nearly ready” on a chronic basis.
The Treatment: How to overcome being a blocked artist?
A lot goes on behind the closed doors on Lazaretto Island. Quarantine has been researching case studies to better understand the symptoms – and treatments – for the bane that is Chronic Preparation Syndrome. We are happy to share that certain secret internal files have come to our attention after being leaked: files sharing their findings…
To read the full files, click here.
And if you think you are ready for the next step? Check out Hunter’s Moon: Quarantine Experiment #7.
It’s time to break those cycles.
Want to learn more? You can check out the Quarantine Handbook to learn more about the people behind Quarantine that keep the ideas churning and the cogs turning. They are a lovely bunch of creatives who have built a unique community, which keeps growing with each event!
Quarantine Social Media Accounts + additional blogs
Website | Instagram |Escaping the Artist’s ‘mental prison’ | How an Art Retreat Becomes a Social Experiment | Quarantine Events Brutally Honest Oracle
