Following the ‘White-hot Fire Inside of You’

If your intention is to ‘make art’, then maybe you’ll get a couple of good paintings. You may even get a show or two.

But I think of it this way: I don’t make art. I make things . Framing it like that keeps what I’m doing from becoming precious. And that’s a good thing, because to be precious is to be timid—and that’s bad. Creativity requires attent

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What do people get wrong about creativity? What’s a misconception?

That it’s just fun work. That it’s all fun and that it’s all a party. But it’s not that at all. It’s a real life of dedication. If you do it seriously, it’s a very dedicated life, and it’s unlike other jobs. There are some jobs where you’re done with your day’s work, and then you g

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I think that being an artist ultimately is about searching for a kind of freedom, a freedom of spirit, and a freedom in making. The moment when that is possible comes at different times for different people. You should never give up, because being an artist—there’s no one path to it. It’s not like some other fields. If you’re an artist, you’re alwa... See more

That's one part of what I'm aiming at with soul-making productivity. I want a way of stoking the fire, and not just that — a way of devoting myself to the fire, of courting it and nurturing it, and of teaching it how to work with me, how to help along this project we're engaged in together, this effort to take an idea from the ether and sculpt some... See more