Reclusive Artist: Difference between revisions

* The artist's ''very identity'' is unknown.

 

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=== Real life examples: ===

* [[Emily Dickinson]], a unique case in that eventually she rarely ever left her ''room'', but she still had an active social life and close friends. It was even said she sent down baskets of treats for her children friends with a rope.

* [[Shirow Masamune]].

* Christopher Tolkien.

* Jack Kerouac in his later years.

* [[Jason Shiga]], comic book author. He may or may not have shown up to receive his Eisner Award--the jacket blurb on one of his books claims that man was an impostor.

* [[Arthur C. Clarke (Creator)]] lived out his later years in Sri Lanka, making this a borderline case (his residence wasn't a secret, but he did assiduously avoid public appearances).

** Well, in any dealings with the Coorwood Industries - a record label that has never released to the public anything ''except'' Jandek, which isn't too bad considering the level of output - the checks are always signed Sterling R. Smith.

* Tsugumi Ohba, author of ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'', is a particularily extreme example, and by extreme we mean "we don't even know his/her gender".

** The same was true for [[Miles Davis]].

** Similarly, Layne Staley of [[Alice in Chains (Music)|Alice in Chains]] cut himself off from friends, family and bandmates for the last three years of his life. His body wasn't discovered until two weeks after his fatal overdose. ''The Rocket'', a Seattle music magazine, [[Foregone Conclusion|already had his obituary written]] from a few years earlier. Even before his seclusion it was stated by guitarist Jerry Cantrell (one of Staley's best friends) that not hearing from Staley for months at a time was not out of the ordinary.

** Pioneering physical scientist Henry Cavendish and theoretical physicist Paul Dirac were similar. Dirac preferred solitude and hated socialising, and Cavendish hated all forms of personal contact, instructing his servants to ignore his presence if they encountered him and communicate only by notes.

* Aside from the opinions put forth on his blog, nothing else is really known about [[Sean Malstrom]]. As with [[Seltzer and Friedberg]] above, this is probably because of the havoc that would erupt if he were to make his presence known elsewhere on the internet.

* [[Studio Pixel]]'s Daisuke Amaya. He created the legendary freeware game ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]'' that later got a commercial [[Updated Rerelease]] on [[Wii Ware]], [[Tough Act to Follow|made a few other games]], [http://blogs.vandal.net/12458/vm/13302725112007 gave a pair] [http://www.destructoid.com/cave-story-creator-talks-inspirations-sequel-and-more-168541.phtml of interviews] full of [[Shrug of God|Shrugs Of God]], and... well, that's pretty much all we know about him.

* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' creators The Brothers Chaps, were quite open with their fanbase, making public appearances and even featuring their children in some shorts, but as of 2009 all but vanished with no notice or explanation. There are several rumors (with varying degrees of validity) involving a movie deal and the birth of a new Chapman.

* While she has made a few semi-live singing appearances, and gives the occasional interview, [[Enya]] prefers to stay out of the spotlight, and very rarely appears in public. Part of this can possibly be attributed to the fact that she's had stalkers in the past, some of whom have broken into her home.

* Irish musician and singer-songwriter [[Van Morrison]] is still not comfortable with interviews and fandom, even as he approaches his fiftieth year in the business. Viewed as a curmudgeonly old misanthrope who has not improved with age, he has variably engaged in a rolling-in-the-gutter fight with one manager, in the presence of a visibly embarrassed BBC radio team there to try and interview him; described his fans as a bunch of ignorant worthless dolts (this backstage, where he initially refused to go at all in front of a paying public who had bought the gig tickets in good faith) and given a succession of irritated interviewers stubbornly monosyllabic answers. In fact, one of the earliest interviews with a very young Morrison is preserved to this day by Ulster Television and is gleefully brought out for blooper reels. A very young interviewer called Gloria Hunniford (who later went on to a stellar career as a TV presenter and hostess of interview format shows) is seen to gush profusely at being in the presence of Belfast's answer to Mick Jagger, and to enthuse about the broodingly handsome writer and performer of groovy music (this was in 1964, when Morrison was a startlingly good-looking young man). But after that build-up, could Gloria get a word out of him other than "yes" or "no"? She cannot, but this does not stop her trying, so she does, for at least five excruciating minutes. The look of [[Oh Crap]] in her eyes is unmistakeable and very obvious. Morrison has not improved with age.

** In his earliest "interview", a journalist turned up at the studio where the then largely unknown Morrison was recording. He had an appointment, which had been timed to a break in the recording work. Having waited around for a time, watching him reading a newspaper, the journalist approached and asked if they could do the interview now. Morrison's reply: "Can't you see I'm busy?!"

* In spite of his larger-than-life stage presence, [[Freddie Mercury]] was somewhat more introverted when he wasn't performing. Combined with an aversion to interacting with the media (a result of experiences in Queen's very early career when they were regularly slated in the music press), he stayed out of the public eye when he could. When he contracted AIDS, this tendency increased, to the point where he only revealed that he was sick one day before bronchio-pneumonia brought on by the disease killed him. In addition, Queen's bassist John Deacon has almost completely retreated from the music industry and public life in general since 1997; every so often photographs of him appear, but they're few and far between.

* Several [[Vocaloid]] artists, to the point where occasionally a producer revealing his/her gender (such as OSTER project being female) can spark [[Samus Is a Girl]]-type reactions.

* Leo Tolstoy was notoriously impossible to interview and hated dealing with the public. He was especially wary of the new invention of the Movie Camera in the early 20th century. Reporters would hide out and try to ambush him. One such reporter, much like the others, hid out for 3 days waiting to ambush him on the way home with his family. Instead of succeeding he accidentally broke his film camera which literally brought him to tears. Taking pity on the man Tolstoy helped him take his camera to a blacksmith shop to repair it after which he agreed to being filmed. This started a relationship of the only man ever allowed to film Tolstoy.

* [[Daft Punk (Music)|Daft Punk]] is a mild example. While their names are common knowledge (Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo), their faces are mostly unknown, since they're almost always hidden behind their iconic robot masks.

[[Category:Creators]]

[[Category:Reclusive Artist]]