art
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The role of the creator
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2 min read
Content creators are also content keepers. Like DJs, they find pleasure in curating the web for hidden gems. The internet offers a treasure trove of interesting artifacts just waiting for perusal. So the creator notices, samples, and recasts subjects into something completely new. Everything is a remix, built on the stems of previous forms. The…
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The probable oddity
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1 min read
Her look went beyond centuries, but so did her footwork. She demanded to stand out in a sea of sameness, to dive in a forest of waves rather than swim in the treadmill of pools. As society hallows each of us out, we must try harder to excavate a sense of special pride. Having first…
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Slow is uncomfortable
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1 min read
Patience is scarce. It’s uncomfortable too be slow. The brain favors fast consumption and impulsive creation over a calm, tortoise-y pace. We are the products of our attention, dabbling, doing, taking away nothing of significance. Internet culture emphasizes moving on to the next one as fast as possible. The pause, whether it’s enforced in the…
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Too unique to be a freak
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2 min read
A brain fogged away by alcohol, conventionality, and dopamine dependence. The head no longer wields attention to its unique advantage due to being manipulated at scale. Are we not entertained into generic beasts? A clean glass of water wipes away the tears of indulgence. A proper sleep guts the head of neuronal waste. Any subsequent…
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Starting the process, dancing with maintenance
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1 min read
The room of our mind decorates itself with doubt. Anxiety is a thinking problem, a challenge to contain the inner narrative that bears the footprints of our decisions. Extreme self-belief and passion offer the antidotes to quitting. Immersed from the start, we dance with persistence when times get difficult. Evolution is an imaginative process. As we…
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Doing it our own way
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2 min read
To do it our own way, for you, regardless of external interpretation and expectation. Individuality is all we have. Character is destiny. Sure, it’s in our DNA as social human beings to want to receive feedback on our creative outpourings. But making is therapeutic in itself. Output is the manifestation of input. What we cultivate…
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Artists are scavengers and tweakers
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2 min read
Artists are scavengers, modern-day hunters of information. And they pluck inspiration from everywhere: people, places, and things. They even gather resources through error. Mishearings, misspellings, and mistakes are idea producers. The creative process is two-fold. Ideas bloom, and then they require execution and management. The producer thinks about them, reads about them, talks about them,…
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Creativity is a game of inches
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2 min read
It comes as no surprise that lousy work begets good work — the more one creates, the more they have to play with. People mistakenly believe that successful artists excelled all along. In reality, what the viewer sees are remarkable stories told by people who decided never to give up. The internet is a great liberator…
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Tighter the brief, the deeper the craft
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2 min read
Once we commit to a creative project, we make choices within it. We narrow down everything into a tight brief so we can build something conclusive. The frames in place help guide our unconscious decisions. There’s no blur between what we’re making and what we want to make. Slowly but surely, we commit to a…
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Less is best
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1 min read
We achieve breakthroughs because of restraints, not because of endless options. There’s a reason we feel satisfied when someone removes the cashews at a party; it eliminates the temptation to snack on them. Our willpower is generally weak. And a surfeit of choice further aggravates self-control problems. Even worse, we transmit vices to others. When…
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The critics
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2 min read
The critics try to impinge as much as possible on the artist. It is their job to find weaknesses and room for improvement. The irony, of course, is that they couldn’t repeat the artist’s work. Critics are inadequate makers, no matter how masterful they are in their feedback. Said French-American painter, sculptor, and writer Marcel Duchamp,…
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Never mind the mood
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2 min read
The work doesn’t begin or end at the mercy of mood. Feeling lazy or prepared is neutral — both are non-starters. The mood’s texture remains unchanged. Having a daily discipline is the best way to keep the shipping alive. Habits are stronger than moods. If your emotions or conditions get in the way because you’re…