A strange thing started happening in my art a few years ago: The art I made in the past would end up predicting my future.
I would go through some sort of event, or I’d see something, a building or a place, and think, 'Wow, this moment reminds me of that drawing I made 8 months ago,' and I'd find ways to relate the events in art and in life.
I wouldn’t say the predictive powers of art are creepy, they are more like a wolf or a snake - an animal that we can view as creepy if we want, but is really just being itself.
The math side of my mind kicks in when Psychic Art Moments happen, and says, "Wait! There's a logical explanation for this! You make art about so many things, that it's only a matter of chance and time before one of them, before one of the pieces, becomes true, before it becomes a real event!"
This is valid. I paint people, landscapes, animals, events, stories, ideas... Most artists deal with many different kinds of themes.
So yes, there is a category aspect to art that predicts the future: Make art about bunnies, skyscrapers, and football shoes, and eventually you will notice bunnies, skyscrapers, and football shoes in your actual life. It will seem psychic, but it’s more an act of noticing, of calling up categorical memories.
Making art also affects memory and intention in incredible ways. About a billion articles and studies have mentioned that writing down a task or a goal makes the writer more likely to achieve the goal. I think about this a lot when making art. Writing is one thing, and drawing is another.
So, even if I draw something not necessarily wishing for it to come true - if it does come true - then I will remember deeply that I drew it. Or I will notice it.
If I create art around something, I remember it, and I also remember it into the future, which is why the prediction thing seems to happen. I don't remember art that is about what doesn't happen, ie, I don’t remember my ‘faiiled’ predictions.
The last reason that making art can seem like having psychic powers is because artists are sometimes bringing previously-unknown ideas into reality. Painting a still-life is recognizing reality, it isn’t exactly painting the future, but it’s affirming a reality. In art, you can also paint and affirm realities that don’t exist yet.
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