Creative Quest

I recommend this to any creative person in any discipline. If you’re a painter and you can’t think of anything to paint, copy a landscape or a portrait by a painter you like. If you’re a writer and you feel like you’re not capable of writing something new, find a poem you like and type it out again. If you’re a chef and you’re drawing a blank in th

The Connect Effect Think of two artists you know, who you consider to be very different, and imagine what project they would make if they collaborated.

I think that my creative identity is unquestionably made up of parts of other people’s creativity. I have lived my life being referential and reverential.

here’s my advice to anyone, in any field: when you feel you can’t make work, make work from work that is already made. Don’t duck and cover. Cover without ducking. Do it proudly. It keeps you active.

it. Reading is a different experience than when we were young—each word offers the possibility for linking out to something else, and the main text just doesn’t have the same gravity it once did. But is this larger network actually providing us with a larger understanding?

Copying, or covering, is always a valuable creative exercise. It gets you going. It restarts your brain and encourages you to look for the way things are built.