• Introducing a long delay between when you do the work and when it is shown to the world. Annie Ernaux writes about this in A Simple Passion, a memoir about how she becomes obsessed in a banal way with a man who is having an affair with her—the thought that others will read th

The sick “up all night” feeling never gets talked about in my line of work, because it doesn’t hold any anecdotes. You’re there alone, knowing that the progress of the session is hinging on your ability to raise the work to the next level of stability. Like being a dressmaker with the most beautiful design, realizing that he is just a bit short of

The creation of good art is necessarily mindful of interpersonal compromise and personal sacrifice because it is a quest for social truth. It speaks to the human condition, not the artist’s condition.