The formula for a signature

The formula for an artistic signature

People become known for their signatures: Chef’s have that dish. Directors have that look. Athletes have that move. Musicians have that sound.

The formula for a signature is: technical mastery + point of view.

\(S = M + POV\)

And it takes a long, long time to develop a good signature. Lately, I’ve been thinking deeply about my own signature (or lack thereof?) as an artist. I can thank a lot of this thinking deeply to my friend Kyle and our two-person book club for Julia Cameron’s brilliant The Artist’s Way.

There is my life before that book and my life after that book.

Before that book I was the kid whose high school chorus teacher stuck me between two trained singers and said, “just do what they’re doing.”

Before that book I was the guy whose dad heard me sing Elton John’s Your Song and said, ““.

There’s nothing in the quotes because after I finished singing, he didn’t say anything.

Before that book, moments like that were devastating. In their defense, I wasn’t a great singer at the time.

After that book, fuck them.

No seriously, fuck them.

I believe it is the responsibility of adults to pay attention to a kid’s potential and offer them the space and resources to hone that potential.

I didn’t have that as a kid.

Anyway CUT TO: 23 YEARS LATER and here I am, rediscovering my potential at middle age, and you know what? All of it is still there.

A few weeks ago, I was at a party chatting to a friend and his wife and I didn’t know the wife, but I said something that made them both laugh pretty hard, and the wife suddenly looks at me and says, “wait a second, you’re the guy my husband watches on Instagram. I hear him from the other room, cracking up at your videos all the time. You’re that Jesse?”

“That’s yeah, that’s me. What made you realize I was that Jesse?” I asked.

“It’s just… something about you and how you speak,” she said. “It’s just so funny and so specific.”

This stranger that I did not know… stood in my presence and just… felt… my artistic signature.

I was speechless.

I believe it is the responsibility of adults to pay attention to a kid’s potential and offer them the space and resources to hone that potential.

I didn’t have that as a kid.

But I’m that adult now.

If you haven’t said this to yourself, big recommend.