The following quotes are collated from a series of interviews with contemporary artists whom I invite to each reflect on their personal history, meaning, and philosophy, and how those are embedded throughout their creative process.
“I am an extreme determinist. I firmly believe that whatever we do—even when the effects of our actions surprise ourselves—is already determined and is not at our discretion. We only get an impression that we make an effort, but the boundaries are not that of our will; everything is already given to us. Every time we put an effort into something and we succeed, we get an impression that we have just crossed a threshold. In reality, however, it is an illusion because certain limits and the potential to exceed them are already within us. It all boils down to one condition: if we possess an internal strength and determination, we act.” – Iwo Zaniewski | Read full interview
“That’s a difficult question. For me the question is better framed as “are there limits to the human mind” – clearly there are practical limits, but there are also ways of overcoming them, and I think the human mind is probably infinitely malleable. My work wouldn’t be possible without the tools I use, both abstract and physical: one of the limits we face today is keeping up with our tools! Some of the things permitted or revealed by them are so subtle or so profound that to even grasp their implications as a human is a lifetime’s work. I’m thinking of things like modern mathematics, genetics or physics (which are just as much about creativity as art, in my opinion). I think the potential exists for us to transcend these limits. Whether we will or not is another question.” – Desmond Clarke | Read full interview
“I don’t at all, unless you’re physically or mentally unable to create. Even then, Frida Kahlo still painted wearing a full-body cast for three months. A steel handrail impaled her through the hip in a bus accident, her pelvic bone had been fractured, her abdomen and uterus had been punctured, her spine was broken in three places, her right leg was broken in eleven places, her right foot was crushed and dislocated, her collar bone was broken, and her shoulder was dislocated. The accident had also displaced three vertebrae. For that reason, I don’t believe there are limits. The term ‘artist’s block’ frustrates me, it’s quite a privileged thing to say.” – Jack Coulter | Read full interview
“Theoretically I think there are no limits to human creativity – as long as we survive as a species. The main limiting thing for humans at present is taking responsibility and action for climate change and making the necessary adjustments in our global life to sustain the natural world. For now we seem to be limited by our own greed/selfishness and inability to see and acknowledge what we are doing to the world. However, creativity offers us hope to change this.” – Susan Aldworth | Read full interview
“Honestly I don’t think there are limits to human creativity. Throughout history with various inventions and evolutions we have been expanding beyond limits placed, to our benefit and downfall at times. There have always been limits of perception which seem so certain until it’s wholeheartedly disproved. This seems to happen over and over. So for me it is a strange dance between certainty and unknowing, a constant and at times slightly nauseating process. I think holding limitations allows us to feel grounded, which is important, but it just doesn’t seem to be the overall pattern of our existence.” – Rebecca Munce | Read full interview
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