Piper French

But it isn't just about the convenience of accessing information. There's a whole mental process here that's being erased. And what that's doing to kids and how it's changing their brains... well, I can't help but wonder.

The addiction to the phone itself is one thing, but the addiction to the answers it holds has changed the way our brains work.

a question came up, as they are prone to do. Neither of us knew the answer, and as naturally as breathing, she pulled out her phone and found out in less than 30 seconds. Our conversation resumed as usual, and that portion of it was resolved and wrapped up with a bow.

I wanted to show the ins and outs, and the unglamorous underbelly of this life. I have made it, I've done well, I continue to do well, and it's OK to say that. But it takes a lot of discipline, a lot of hard work, and luck, and I wanted to show that part of it too—in order to tell people that this is possible.

The worst thing you can do is make a plan. The heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” The only thing I can rely on is a schedule. I simply show up and work within the limitations I’ve preset for myself.

I always think of ‘inspiration’ as an amateur word. Inspiration is being propelled to do something, or to think something, or to go somewhere, by some sort of external stimulus. And that to me is undependable.

But purpose—purpose is a white-hot fire inside of you, a self-delusion that keeps you coming back into the room to work decade after decade,... See more

How I overcame a fear of making mistakes.

I spent a period of time where my goal was to plow through work in the cheapest and most disposable way possible. My choice was cardboard—sheets of corrugated cardboard from the streets of Manhattan.

I’d haul it up to my studio in big bundles every day, and put it all over the walls, the floor—even on the... See more

If you’re afraid to go just that bit little farther and fuck the whole thing up, then you’re in trouble. You’re painting with one hand tied behind your back. My old teacher, the British painter Michael Tyzack, used to say, “Without risk, there can be no serious painting.”

There’s a reason the first letters of the word ‘artificial’ are ‘art’. Human beings crave deception—we need to see each other’s narratives. We make art so that we have an excuse to stare at each other.

Peering into someone else’s heart grants us a stronger purchase on our own. Art is empathy, and it will save the world.

We lie to the viewer to get... See more