I knew David Lynch going to television was going to be something. It was either going to not work, nobody was going to get it and it would disappear, or it was going to be something special and really stand out.
I'm noticing a new approach to art making in recent museum and gallery shows. It flickered into focus at the New Museum's 'Younger Than Jesus' last year and ran through the Whitney Biennial, and I'm seeing it blossom and bear fruit at 'Greater New York,' MoMA P.S. 1's twice-a-decade extravaganza of emerging local talent.
I never worked at painting as if it were a job; it was always out of interest or for fun, a desire to try something.
I like to think of 'the studio' as a laboratory where I can go in, learn tricks, apply, revise, and release. I'd figure I had about the same emotional attachment to my craft as a guy over at NASA does over... NASA stuff.
If I begin writing a poem that means I'm intrigued in some way by whatever it's about and that if I'm not trying to find something new and pushing the envelope in the poem I can't expect my reader to be particularly excited about it either.
I simply asked if I could have a go at adapting a screenplay. But I did not want any money, in case I failed because I did not want a script out there with my name on it that might be completely dysfunctional.
When I started out, it was this sense of, "Let's put out a record and see what happens and see where you go and see how you feel and where we can take it." That was a very different world back then.
The only pictures worth making are the ones that are playing with fire.
I thought I would be a visual artist when I was growing up, so I'm always up for a bit of experimentation.
I love the idea of messing around with different mediums.
People sometimes get a little extra criticism when they try something that they don't normally do, but I think that's just a natural thing for artists. It's like, 'Okay, I did that, and now I want to try this.'
I'm hoping that "Nothin' On You", "Billionaire" and "Just The Way You Are" - songs that I produced... I hope that it's a warning for people. I hope it lets them know that I'm a little unorthodox when it comes to genres and styles.
I think each album does have a different energy, otherwise you'd be doing the same thing again and not experimenting anew... Albums are such autobiographical material, not in the material but as an expression of what you're like at the time.
Experiment is actually doing the art. That's the experiment and then you get to experience the experiment.
Sound as medium has an incredible elasticity. So, of course, it is tempting for artists of other fields to try something with sounds. Why not? We are living in the age when there is no limit in gathering all forms of art and music to mix it together if you so desire.
Avant-garde art jousts with propriety, but takes care never to unseat it.
I would advise young artists to paint as they can, as long as they can, without being afraid of painting badly.
I'm very, very open to experimenting with different people and trying to find different methods of writing and making music.
I've always had an eclectic taste in music. But what I try to do is combine these things in ways that others would never think of, like putting Bun B on an Elton John song.
A great artist has to be ready to fail.
I'm trying to figure out what I can do creatively. It's about trying to find new things and trying to figure out voices and borrowing from things and learning as much as possible so that I have an archive of things to borrow from.
Californian artists are kind of willing to push the limits a little bit further just because that's kind of our mentality in that state.
I've made more than 50 records with a wide range of music. I've often veered to check something out.
The studio is a place where I can experiment before I'm prepared for an idea to become a body of work, or a new way of working, or a way of working that can sustain me over a period of time.
I look for things that are left of center, something you've only seen your whole life, but never heard. Hit it! With a stick! I have a guitar made out of a 2x4 that I bought in Cleveland.
