“Trust yourself, for god’s sake, for 2 minutes. Is that so hard?
Put down the urge to be smart.
Put down the urge to be right.
Give up the idea of understanding.
Art is not about understanding.
No one asks, what does Mozart mean? Right? What does an Indian raga mean? When Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are dancing, it’s beyond meaning. It’s about experience.
and what I’m saying to you is: pleasure is an important form of knowledge.
In the west, we don’t trust it anymore. You trust it in who you love and how you dress and the things you buy, because it gives you pleasure. But you get to art and you think I should understand this and be smart… The voices in my head are never mean. If they’re mean, that’s your regular best friend who lives in your head who hates you. That best friend that thinks you’re a piece of crap, she or he is not allowed in your studio. I promise you, the second you come out, they’ll be there. Right? You’re a fake. You’re no good. But in the studio, develop an audience of your friends, your peers, living in debt, and let them tell you what to do. And they will.”
Jerry Saltz, from the fabulous “In Other Words” podcast
Listen to the whole darn thing. It’s so fucking good.
And then, and then, and then.