He Is Less Himself

A famous person is less than an unknown individual. And that is my thesis. A famous person becomes so much of their outward image that their own self-image is too closely tied to the image others have of them. The famous individual is confined to what they represent as an artist, to their brand. They can never be a common observer of the world, for they themselves have become a thing.

Perhaps it is better to replace the word "famous" with "recognized artist." For this artist has become more of a thing than a conveyor of things. Their appreciation of things, while incomplete and more human, strips them of the aura of being enlightened or a judge of taste, for they were born to create, not to appreciate. And a gift is also a curse at the same time.

Let’s imagine Woody Allen, whom I consider an artist (someone who transcends the drama of life through creation and questioning), enjoying a cheesecake. His notes on the flavor, on the texture, would be totally amateurish and absurd compared to our expectations of his opinion, an opinion we are used to treating as immaculate and beautiful. Thus, Woody Allen is confined to keeping his opinion as an artist about cheesecake. So, there are two Woody Allens—the man and the artist.

Is an artist, an actor, just an actor pretending everything they feel? Yes, as Pessoa once said: “The poet is one who feigns pain, the pain they truly feel.”