I don't know why so many artists talk about the mainstream's problems from the fringe. I think, unfortunately, it's almost like our education makes us too safe and terrified to step into the world.
Interpretation
Artists often critique mainstream issues from a distance, but education can inhibit their full engagement with the world.
Mark Bradford's quote reflects on the tendency of artists to discuss societal problems while remaining detached from the mainstream discourse. He suggests that the educational system can lead to a kind of safety that causes individuals to fear engaging deeply with the real-world issues they observe, thus creating a barrier to authentic participation and critique.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the role of artists in society during an art symposium.
That's how I make work. Along the way, I take notes, I read about history and popular culture. Sometimes I act out things in the studio. I go back to my mother's hair salon so I can hear three voices going all at once. I pull inspiration from everything.
My mom was an orphan, and there was never anybody to tell her what she could or couldn't do. At the core, she's probably an artist - an artist and a feminist.
When I have to score a film, I watch the movie first and then start thinking about it. And from that moment on, it is as if I were pregnant. I then have to deliver the child, so from that moment on, I think always about the music - even when I go to the grocery store, I think about it.
I've always seen writing as a way of telling the truth. For me, writing is about truth. I have always tried to be faithful to my own experience.
Fashion is transient, trends come and go. I believe in style, not fashion.
The audience too should be respected by being presented with a film as they remember it, and for those who have not seen it, as it was intended to be seen. Anything less is a degradation of the film and its audience.
I don't often go to curator or artist walk-throughs of exhibitions. For a critic, it feels like cheating. I want to see shows with my own eyes, making my own mistakes, viewing exhibitions the way most of their audience sees them.
There are many reasons why novelists write, but they all have one thing in common - a need to create an alternative world.
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