Exquisite Suffering - The art of enduring

On the 19th of June, Jonas Abrahamsen hit the ground, skin torn from arms and body, his collar bone and bike fractured.

17 days later he would stand ready at the start of a 2074 mile, 21 day long bike race, the Tour de France.

Now you don’t need to know who Abrahamsen is -nor the many peculiarities of racing in the Tour de France- to understand that this is a feat of endurance, an embrace of suffering, that can only be achieved through a near insane kind of passion.

The Tour de France’s history is littered with feats such as this, riders breaking bones mid race and finishing, using inner-tubes as make shift slings. Riders have fallen down ravines only to climb back up and press on. In 1967 Tom Simpson would collapse and die whilst riding in the lead on one of the races gruelling stages.

“In other sports it is the loser who suffers most. In cycling, it is the winner”

So what has this got to do with art. I see a great many parallels between the cyclist and the artist, the hours of commitment needed, with the only true path to success necessitating an enjoyment of the activity even in the solitary moments, the moments of terrible weather and mechanical failures. The moments without sales or applause.

There is the autonomy and self reliance, the pursuit of knowledge that comes from the need to keep going, therefore the need to repair, rebuild and even construct. There is no team mechanic on the myriad of solo rides, there is no warehouse of interns to work for the student artists sculpture project.

The wonderful phrase “we don’t buy upgrades, we ride up grades” reinforces the notion that it is not the level of equipment you have, but the type of practice and dedication to it that matters. The best camera and bike are the same thing, they’re the one you use.

The ride will not end until you end it, the artwork won’t be finished until you finish it. Getting off and walking is harder than riding, not creating at all is harder than creating without thought.

Suffering in front of a quiet canvas or screen is harder for me than suffering 50 miles in the sun on a single speed bike, because the bike holds me to the task, I cannot just stop, it will be harder if I do. This practice of thinking helps hold me to the canvas in times of frustration and pain.

These ways of thinking, these self motivated lessons are vital for growth as an artist, we should look for more ways to practice them outside of our art. Finding new contexts for knowledge and new constraints to test ourselves against creates a deeper and broader growth.

(Photo of Lauren Dolan at the 2017 UCI road championships)