I always thought that inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.
—
Chuck Close, an American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist, through his massive-scale portraits. In 1988, he was severely paralyzed by a catastrophic spinal artery collapse. He had to learn to paint all over again, and continued to paint and produce work that’s sought after by museums and collectors.
Chuck Close, an American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist, through his massive-scale portraits. In 1988, he was severely paralyzed by a catastrophic spinal artery collapse. He had to learn to paint all over again, and continued to paint and produce work that’s sought after by museums and collectors.
TC
on 25 Mar 13Maybe if you rely on it to get anything done, but a bit of inspiration never hurts. And, you never know what will inspire you. If you never pay attention to that, you may not realize you have been inspired.
Lee
on 25 Mar 13Couldn’t agree more. I can’t stand people who navel gaze, picking apart process and inspiration.
Danny
on 26 Mar 13Why is all this info about Chuck Close being paralyzed relevant?
Why didnt this quote just say “Chuck Close, painter”.
twiz
on 26 Mar 13@Danny Because he said he always thought this. He was not just saying this because he is a great artist and doesn’t need inspiration.
He was an amateur twice, and in this unique case became great twice, maintaining the same stance on inspiration.
Maybe this line of thinking had something to do with it? In other words put the mixergy down every once and a while and get back to your stuff.
Travis
on 26 Mar 13Danny and twiz, if there’s anyone who could have said “Fuck it. I can’t paint today because I’m not inspired.” it’s Chuck Close, he overcame real adversary.
It means something when a person backs up their words with their actions.
Paul
on 26 Mar 13@Lee, I guess it all depends on how you define inspiration. And I can’t speak for Chuck’s intention when he made that quote, but most of the super successful people I’ve talked to, did (and continue to) pick apart what it is that inspires them to produce their best work, so that they can turn it into a process. That may be called “navel gazing” it may be called “knowing yourself”, again, depends on your interpretation I guess. The practical result of that study is that they are able to actively inspire themselves more readily and more “on demand” every day, every week. As opposed to sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike from some external source. My interpretation is, he’s not saying, don’t be inspired, he’s saying, don’t stop and wait for it to come out of thin air. :)
Nate Otto
on 27 Mar 13Agreed. Not being inspired is an excuse. Get to work and the ideas will flow.
This discussion is closed.