Jacques Lipchitz

"Art is an action against death.  It is a denial of death."

— Jacques Lipchitz

Lithuanian Sculptor

1891 - 1973

Mother and Child
(1930)

My first encounter with death was when my grandfather (my father's father) died during my tenth grade school year.  I served as one of pall bearers.  A year later, a girl in my class died.  She was a cheerleader and I never saw her again after the game.  Sudden and quick death.  When I was a freshman in college a sixteen year old girl I had known from my camp years died in an automobile accident.  During the summer between my junior and senior year in college my girl friend's mother died of breast cancer.  And the list could go on and on.  Every year or two someone I know dies.  And I am sure I am not unusual.  Most people know someone who has died.  

Death is an every day affair, and yet we know so little of it.  We try to deny its existence.  We seek ways to extend our lives.  We avoid talking about it happening to us.  Yet death stalks us and is always close by.  We cannot avoid it.  So our art becomes a form of salvation — a way to extend our lives beyond the grave, a way to keep us alive.  Art gives us hope that maybe we too can live forever.

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Odani Motohiko

"I used to find that idea of an ever changing, impalpable style appealing, but now I want to concentrate on the things I ought to be doing, the things that only I can do.  The result I hope will be works that like the Buddhist statues of the past will be capable of communicating with people for centuries to come."

Odani Motohiko

Japanese Artist

1972 -

Are you doing the creative work that you ought to be doing — that only you can do?  In today's world it is easy to get sidetracked and caught up in projects that have nothing to do with our true work.  There are many people and things that demand our attention and time.  If you don't know what creative work you are supposed to be doing it is easy to get lost.  Do you have a vision of the work that you should be doing?  Do you stay focused or are you easily distracted?

Will the creative work that you are doing still be communicating to generations to come?  Or will your work be forgotten as soon as you leave this world?  No one can predict which poems, or paintings or sculptures will last for centuries and which are meant for the dustbins of time.  Many artists and writers dream and hope that their creative works will give them immortality.    

To see more of Odani Motohiko's creative work, check out this site:

www.voiceyourtemper.com/obsess-were-obsessed/artgraffiti/430-odani-motohiko-sculptures

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Fernando Del Paso

Venus de Milo
Ancient Greek Statue

"Literature and music exist in time: they have a beginning and an end.  Painting and sculpture exist in space. . . . Where does the Venus de Milo begin: in her navel, in her breasts, or in her head?  Where does an abstract painting begin: in the lower left corner, or in the center?"

— Fernando Del Paso

Mexican Novelist, Painter and Poet

1935 -

Back of
Venus de Milo

De Paso has raised a very interesting question:  where does a painting or a sculpture begin?  When analyzing a painting, people often identify at what point the eye is drawn into the painting.  At what point do we the viewer enter into the picture?  But that point of entry is not the beginning of the painting.  In fact, paintings and sculptures have no beginning.  They just are here and now.

The flip side of this question is:  where does the novel exist?  In the head of the writer?  On the pages of the book it is printed in?  In cyberspace somewhere?  Or in the head of the reader?  And what novel are we talking about?  Is the novel that is in the writer's head the same as the novel on the page?  Is the novel that is in the reader's head the same as what is in the writer's imagination?  

Fernando Del Paso

How many times have you as a reader altered the novel on the page by changing the looks of a character or the physical location of the story.  Unlike the painting which is concrete and visual, the novel is nebulous and changing.  Yes, we can impose our stories upon the painting, but the painting still exists outside of us.  We change the novel as soon as it enters our brain.  We have altered the story as imagined by the novelist.

Have you ever wished that a novel would not end?  You may even have slowed down your reading so that the ending would be delayed?  Novels exist in time and have a beginning and a ending, but we can continue to revisit them through our memory. 

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Frank Stella

"One learns about painting by looking at and imitating other painters.  I can't stress enough how important it is, if you are interested at all in painting, to look and to look a great deal at painting.  There is no other way to find out about painting."

— Frank Stella

1936 - 

American Painter

I think one of the best ways of learning how to create is to study other artists, novelists, poets, musicians, dancers and storytellers.  And most creative leaders do.  The only exception is wanna-be poets.  I am always surprised when I meet a person who tells me that he writes poetry but he never reads it.  And I have probably met hundreds in my life.  If you want to perfect your art, you need to study other artists.  But don't limit yourself to your chosen medium.  Explore other arts.  If you are a painter, read poetry.  If you are a novelist, study landscape artists and portrait artists.  If you are a dancer, study the painters who painted dancers.  The message is simple:  creative leaders need to be studying other creative leaders for insight and understanding.

Harran II

(1967)

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Joseph Conrad

"I don't like work — no man does — but I like what is in work: the chance to find yourself."

— Joseph Conrad

Polish Novelist

1857 - 1924

Unlike Conrad, I do like to work.  I find that if I don't work I become bored and more tired than when I work.  Although, I do from time to time find myself procrastinating, particularly with creative work.  The creative side of me doesn't want to sit down and do the work.  But I strongly agree with the second half of the quote.  Work does give me a chance to explore who I am as an artist and writer.  Work helps me to understand myself better and to appreciate my talents and gifts.  Work also challenges me and pushes me to go farther than I thought possible.

I believe we ought to celebrate work.  All work is honorable if approached with the right attitude.  Housework and housekeeping is very important work.  So is child-rearing.  Raising and educating the next generation is probably the most important work of all.  I am in awe of people who are knowledgeable about the work they do.  When I meet a sales clerk in a store who knows his product, I compliment him.  I love to listen to the sales pitch of great sales people.  Sometimes I buy and sometimes I don't, but I enjoy the ride.  I celebrate people who work their hands — carpenters, farmers, mechanics.  I am not good with my hands because I am too slow.  Some people have the gift for gab.  I have heard some fantastic speakers in my life.  Work for me is both an art and a skill.

The work that creative leaders do should also be celebrated.  Sometimes people don't understand the creative process and so they don't appreciate the working habits of artists and writers.  Painting, sculpting and writing are not 9 to 5 jobs.  You may work for an hour here and an hour there, but your mind is always working both consciously and unconsciously.  In fact, the unconscious work for a creative leader is probably the most important work and the most difficult.  So celebrate and appreciate the work you do.

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Jack Penn

"One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks."

— Jack Penn

South African 

Surgeon, Sculptor, Author

1909 - 1996

To be human and to live with other humans is to face challenges and difficulties.  We experience death, love and heartache, not necessarily in that order.  How we respond to the challenges that life deals us is a measure of the type of person we are.  Do we pick ourselves up and make something of what has happened or do we remain in the mud, wishing to die?  As creative leaders, we have the gift of creativity which can help us turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.  So get out your chisel and chisel away at that stumbling block in your way.  

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Dame Barbara Hepworth

"I found one had to do some work every day, even at midnight, because either you're professional or you're not."

— Dame Barbara Hepworth

English Sculptor

1903 - 1975

Discipline is one of the keys to being an artist or a writer.  One needs to work every day.  People often say: 'I work when I am inspired.'  If you wait until you are inspired, you will be waiting a long time.  If you work whether you are inspired or not, you will find that soon inspiration will become a constant companion.  Work opens up the creative spirit and the inspiration flows.  So my message is simple:  work every day even if it is for only 15 minutes.

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Jackson Pollack

"Every good artist paints what he is."

— Jackson Pollock

American Artist

1912 - 1956

Painters and writers are attracted to the subjects they are supposed to paint and write about.  Are there certain themes that run through your work?  Do you paint the same type of picture over and over?  I paint, draw and sculpt lots of masks and it does not matter what medium I  am working in.  In my poetry you will find the themes of God, death and sex.  Pretty boring, right.  Every writer talks about God, death and sex, but what makes us unique is our approach to the subject.  I have never met a writer who talks about God in the way that I do.

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Mark DiSuvero

"To achieve poetry in a piece of sculpture, one must know how to dream, how to draw the dreams, and how to see the interwebbed, interdependent dance of this beautifully colored energy field that we too bluntly call 'life' or 'world.'"

— Mark di Suvero

American Sculptor

1933 - 

Each moment of our lives is a dream.  Let's dance with the energy of the world and see the bright colors vibrating around our faces.  When will we wake from this world of possibilities and take measure of what has happened?  When will we become one with the energy?

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