Basically everything I've done in art, I was in possession of when I was 20 years old. I use a waste retrieval method of working. I'll go back and use something that disgusted me 15 years ago but that I had enough sense to think about. Some artists change dramatically. I see my work more like history being written.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the idea that an artist's work is an accumulation of their past experiences and thoughts, rather than dramatic changes in style.
Edward Ruscha suggests that his artistic journey has been shaped significantly by the experiences and ideas he held at a young age, emphasizing a method of revisiting and reinterpreting earlier concepts. He describes his approach to art as a 'waste retrieval method,' implying that he sees value in past disgust or discarded notions, and integrates them into his current work, presenting his art as a continuous narrative that evolves over time rather than radically transforming.
In practice
During an art lecture on the evolution of modern art, this quote serves to illustrate how artists often build on past ideas.
The groove is so mysterious. We're born with it and we lose it and the world seems to split apart before our eyes into stupid and cool. When we get it back, the world unifies around us, and both stupid and cool fall away. I am grateful to those who are keepers of the groove. The babies and the grandmas who hang on to it and help us remember when we forget that any kind of dancing is better than no dancing at all.
I pride myself on working with great musicians.
I'm a songwriter first...In my career I have never felt that my being a woman was an obstacle or an advantage. I guess I've been oblivious...Sensitive, humbug. Everybody thinks I'm sensitive...There is a downside to having one of the biggest-selling albums ever.
You have to really have the will to hang onto the first note as it is being played, and then really stay with it and take the flight, as it were, you know, for the duration of the piece.
Poems mesmerized me, and I felt better when I was writing them, or trying to - more in touch with something deep and dark within myself.
We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.
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