In 1965, the sculptor Eva Hesse was in the middle of a creative block so she wrote to her friend and fellow artist Sol Lewitt (whose Wall Drawing #370 I got to see again at the Met last week). His response is probably the most motivating thing I've heard in a while. If you want to see his actual letter, it's here) but here are some of my favorite parts:
Learn to say "Fuck You" to the world once in a while. You have every right to.
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Don't worry about cool, make your own uncool. Make your own, your own world. If you fear, make it work for you — draw & paint your fear & anxiety.
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Try to do some BAD work — the worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell — you are not responsible for the world — you are only responsible for your work — so DO IT.
I first heard about this letter when the always-great Open Culture blog posted a video of Benedict Cumberbatch reading it aloud. It's the (NSFW) kick in the pants that everyone needs sometimes.
"Inspiration is for amateurs -- the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will -- through work -- bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great "art idea." And the belief that process, in a sense, is liberating and that you don't have to reinvent the wheel every day. Today, you'll know what you do, you could be doing what you were doing yesterday, and tomorrow you are gonna do what you did today, and at least for a certain period of time you can just work. If you hang in there, you will get somewhere."
