My Year of Zero Commentary

Insider #114 with a resolution (mostly) kept, and other ideas that have guided this year.

Nov 26, 2023

∙ Paid

Dear Insider,

(This post is going out to all readers as part of my resolution to learn in public and share everything I learn with as many people as possible.)

At the beginning of this year, I made some good rules for myself. One of them was to do ZERO COMMENTARY. Yesterday, however, I just couldn’t resist:

An entry from late December in my 2022 notebook, marks the resolution. It says ZERO COMMENTARY in big block letters. The lines and shapes have been drawn with great force. At the time, out of frustration or accidental wisdom, I did not expand any further on the idea. Maybe I thought that would be commentary too?

Today’s post is the first in a series to audit my year. I look back at my resolutions of 2023 and consider how they have helped the trajectory of my work/life.

The SneakyArt (Insider) Post shares deeper thoughts, my best ideas, and a behind-the-scenes look at my journey as an artist and writer.

You are my Auditor too

A self-propelled creative career is full of many independent decisions. While some are harmless others can have serious consequences. Some are predictable and others are not. Some are foolish, but there you stand and you can do no other. An audit is a call to examine my work critically but constructively, as a way to understand what worked and what did not.

In last year’s audit, I shared a moment of bravery that nevertheless left me with mixed feelings. Approached for a commission, I had a wonderful conversation until asking what they would pay me:

“This time I did laugh out loud. But not because I found it funny. Laughter was the most polite response to how I really felt…” (Keep reading)

Dear reader, you are my auditor too. Tell me how this post reads from your end.

Wordplay is Essential (Because Everything is Words)

Words are generative, said Derrida, because they need other words in order to be themselves. How convenient, words!

It is a human thing to seek clear definitions and insist upon ‘truths’. Some things, however, are better left undefined. They need room to breathe and space to play. Over time, they acquire meaning. My resolution of ZERO COMMENTARY started like that. No more words, just these two.

It began as an itch in the back of my mind, stopping me from jumping into the conversations of others. To reserve unnecessary judgment and delete hasty comments. To gather all the feelings, thoughts, and strong emotions, and pour them onto the sketchbook page. To not just talk, because that is so easy, but to go out instead, and maybe look at a tree, and make a drawing.

Looking at Trees is a way to Reset your Brain in a way I Cannot Describe (Yet)

But one day I will and you will be the first recipients of those words, dear reader.

My year of ZERO COMMENTARY is a call to be receptive without being reactionary. To be attentive to the forces of my world, but not lose myself in its infinite battles. To be the artist of my ideas, not a curator of other people’s.

Curation > Creation

Too many people are curators now. Perhaps because curation is so easy and demands nothing of yourself. It is a safe word which grants access to other words like mindfulness, beauty, and taste. People like to surround themselves with such words.

But forgive me for insisting upon wordplay again:

What (or who) is a curator? And what (or who) is a scavenger?

Wordplay is essential because everything is words now.

Words are Combustible

Over the next few weeks, this Insider Audit series will look at the resolutions that have guided my year. Beware, some of these words are dangerous when placed next to one another:

🥇 Exploring a no-competition mindset to embrace a positive sum world

🚀 Reprogramming my brain to cherish process over results

💡 Not looking at the numbers because numbers can be as meaningless as words.

❤️ Stepping outside of my comfort zone to become comfortable being uncomfortable.

I ended last year thoroughly outside my comfort zone. The City of Vancouver hired me to be an Artist-in-Residence on the public transit, making it my job to draw on the trains for a month (yay) and interact with commuters (less yay).

One of the more uncomfortable experiences was speaking to a CBC News crew, posing by the tracks, and pretending to not see them while drawing on the train.

Non-Fiction is just Good Stories too

Another reason for ZERO COMMENTARY is that I use words to frame strong opinions and people do not like that. On fiction vs nonfiction, I was not trying to be glib. I am actually very, very serious:

The SneakyArt Post