Olly Alexander Quotes

Creating something beautiful out of pain helps ease the pain. So, that's kind of how I got to songwriting - quite honestly out of desperation.

I write songs for myself, but I never keep them. I'm like, 'O.K., that was my therapy - it's out of my body now. I'm going to give it to somebody else so it can be their therapy, too.'

You can punch a wall or write a song. Just as painful either way, but you have something to show for it at the end of the day with a song.

With the art therapy, as soon as they saw the paper and crayons coming, we couldn't get it out fast enough. And we told them to draw about the tsunami.

Something impacts me emotionally, art is a kind of outlet, and I figure it's the same for a lot of artists. The way my mind deals with things is cinematic.

I don't have to lay on the couch and see a therapist because my therapist is in my paint brushes.

I think anything that's creative really takes my mind off whatever it is that I'm going through in my life. If you're going through heartbreak, and you can write a song, it's a wonderful win-win, because it takes your mind off the heartbreak, and you get to vent.

The artist writes, paints, sings or dances the burden of some idea or feeling off his mind.

When I get intimate with my paintings, it's a real good spiritual thing to get off my chest. Same as playing the instruments is a great release.

It's always cathartic for me to write music.

Composing is an emotional thing.

I started making art with art therapy. It's what I know how to do. I got a lot of criticism for that when I was in school. But I think it works for me.

Making music has always made me happy. When I go through a situation, the best way for me to get over it is to bundle up all of my emotions about it, put it in a little shell, create something, and then let it go.

Whatever poetry that was in me was coming out in the form of constructing art books!

Art is a form of catharsis.

I've always written plays for the purpose of getting something out of my system.

Acting, the arts in general, is a magnet for the wounded of society.

There's no better way to process pain than to write.

I'm pretty terrible at writing, so the way I kind of therapeutically get through things is by drawing.

My art is a form of restoration in terms of my feelings to myself and to others.

It's still an escape for me, painting, so it also takes me elsewhere. I don't think I would do it otherwise.

I'm generally quite an angry person, and I like to channel my anger toward something creative.

I was a very violent kid. I think movies and writing and art have been a way of channeling this.

When things become peculiar, frustrating and strange, I think it's a good time to start painting.

Art is basically made by dissatisfied people who are willing to find some means to relieve the dissatisfaction.