Consistency Aids Creativity
By Mason Currey
Alfred A. Knopf, $24.95, 304 pages
Artists can be some very weird people. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work looks at how artists throughout history have maintained their patterns over their life spans, allowing them to maintain whatever pace they had. This is a fun look at how artists create through the exploration of their work habits. Given that there is a wide variety of activity levels presented here, it makes for some interesting comparison studies. This is a fascinating look into the artistic process, especially as there seems to be no discernible patterns between how artists work.
This is one time when a consistent writing style would have been a bad idea. The lack of total consistency works here as the style between work studies changes, it emphasizes that this is a study of individuals rather than a group. The research here is obviously meticulous and is just fun at points. However, some of these artists had boring habits for such creative careers. Yet the least prolific were the most interesting. For any artist that has had problems continuing through a block, one of these artists is bound to inspire, and for that reason alone this is a good book.
Reviewed by Jamais Jochim
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