the muse

ive always found the dynamic of muse and artist to be really interesting. i’ve written some poems about it that ill maybe post at some point, though they might need a few more drafts lol. 

ive been thinking about muses a lot lately. i havent had a muse in years. i just havent met anyone who inspires me like that. being a little bit inspired by each of my friends is cool and all but it would be nice to have someone whos existence makes me need to create. i just havent met anybody like that in a long time. maybe if i meet the right person it could push me out of this art block ive been stuck in for what feels like months. when i say ‘it’ i mean the inspiration this hypothetical person would give me, not the person themselves. i dont want to dehumanize them, but its kind of hard to give humanity to a hypothetical person i haven’t met yet

the whole artist/muse dynamic straddles the line between admiration and objectification, as this persons likeness is literally being turned into an object. i think thats why i find the dynamic so fascinating

this illustration ‘the muses revenge’ by ilya milstein conveys this idea in a really thought provoking way. i interpret this piece as the muses humanity being stripped from them through the artists objectification. that objectification is framed as admiration, while its at most infatuation. in this moment she reclaims her humanity by force

i think about this illustration pretty regularly. probably once every other month