creativity possibly demands a certain degree of detachment of the self from the creative identity. the person and the artist are two different entities. the latter almost always makes its mark on the former, but the other way round probably takes away from the art. considering the fact that art in any form is created for an object outside the self, for a receptive audience however small, it is perhaps natural that art by definition is not something entirely personal. if it is, it seldom attains that level of excellence.

the exception to the rule are autobiographies; i don't know if there are parallels in other art forms. then again very few of those are great pieces of literature. and some don't fit neatly into any box. for instance garcia marquez - reading his book, it seems that the person GM writes about the writer GM.

the obsession with fudging the borders of the personal and public space is peculiarly post-modern, or maybe even post-postmodern in its origins. it is still a long wait to see if this makes a mark in the art of our times, but there is a definite trend. blog-turned-books are the most apparent ones for obvious reasons, but there are other things too. reality tv, talk shows on tv and radio constructed around bits of ones self that is put on a very public space, interactive multi media experience, people, instead of events and incidents, hogging more than their fair share of newsprint.

a question to ask here is then what part of the self is left uninvaded, unexposed, belonging solely in the personal space. by choice or by compulsion, the compartmentalization seems to be less relevant for people. incidentally, it is not art in isolation, academia seems to be affected, albeit slowly and one hopes reluctantly. the new genre in qualitative sociology and anthropology is no longer cyber ethnography. auto ethnographies are creeping in - academic exploration of a society using the individual as the unit of observation, and getting the insider view because the individual studies herself in her social context. it seems like a perverted form of self-obsession, but there are actually some arguements in favour of the methological relevance of such studies.

i wonder how many more boundaries shall i see dismantled in my lifetime. it looks like its going to be long list.