I have never really been an aesthetic person, and therefore, I have never really taken the time to understand what it is about art that captivates certain people. I have had friends who were superb and spectacular artists, but I always believed they were born with a natural inclination for drawing and painting. I never grasped the fact that many of them spent hours everyday perfecting this talent. Any raw talent has to be refined and sculpted so it looks appealing to everyone else.
When I got up to the part where it was quite obvious Robert had a social disorder, a small smile crept upon my face, as I knew, sooner or later, either Patti or Robert would show some signs of a disorder. Extreme and obsessive passion over anything can lead to a person dedicating all of his/her time to that passion. This results in the breakdown of the social harmony that is necessary for living a healthy life. Patti got back some of her social life when she ceased being overly obsessive about art. She started going to her friends’ houses an started doing things besides art. As such, every time she came back home, she could see the provincial and parochial world that was Robert’s. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and I would like to see where the memoir takes me.
I definitely felt that aspect of madness in Robert’s behavior. As Aristotle said, “There is no genius without a touch of madness.” The two are barely distinguishable at times.
I want to love something as much as they love art. Although Patti is writing this, she definitely makes Robert seem much more passionate. She admits that sometimes she questions the purpose of creating art and its importance, sometimes she just wants to quit. Robert is the only thing that keeps pulling her back into aesthetic world, seeing him care so much ignites the passion in her… it’s like contagious or something. They’re just so cute, too bad he’s homosexual.
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I agree with you that the beginning of the book was quite interesting and exciting. I also thought that the book wasn’t going to be good, but I couldn’t put my book down during the begging of it. Smith was definitely passionate about art. She was willing to starve for a couple of nights just to buy art supplies. She claimed how, even though she had a fast metabolism, she would suffer to explore art, and really find herself. Robert was so hungry, that it came to a point where if eating for another night wasn’t available, there wasn’t much of a difference in his hunger level.
Both had to sacrifice. Not only did they struggle with food, but they also had to find a place to live. Smith left her family and didn’t want to go back to show her family she can make it on her own, and Robert wanted to prove his dad wrong. Robert had to suffer from being in a love triangle with many men, to learn how to climb up the social ladder. He had to spend a lot of time with Johnny from the Met, to learn how to use a camera and develop pictures properly. It took him month to buy a camera of his own. He also had to paint his apartment room and pay off all the living expenses, which took years. Good things take time and all the suffering is part of maturing. Many artists like Smith, and Robert feel that their passion is worth the sacrifices and pain. Robert always struggle with the concept of needing more money. He was constantly worried that he couldn’t pay off ends meet. His passion was still there even in the darkest times and it paid off.