Creative Discomfort Quotes

When I do comedy, my brain sort of locks up in the infinite possibilities. That's where I get sort of lost. I think, "Oh, there are six other jokes that we could say here!" I feel more at home with drama.

Do you come to art to be comforted, or do you come to art to be re-skinned?

I think being creative is incredibly difficult and painful.

In all the creative work that I have done, what has come first is a problem, a puzzle involving discomfort.

Comfort is the enemy of the artist.

I do not think good art comes from comfort. While from a humanistic standpoint I would have much rather been at my home that I own, surrounded by friends and family and controlling my environment completely.

I've always done music to push people to get them to get uncomfortable in their seat so they could wrestle with things. Not to become pew potatoes, just simply sitting there, growing fat with knowledge and not applying it. It's a mixed tape that's really aimed and geared toward hip hop culture.

I was uncomfortable writing fiction. My love was the personal essay, rather than the novel.

The greatest pain is the pain of a new idea.

I would never write something that made me uncomfortable. I'm not sure it's even possible.

Every time, I reaffirm in myself that the more comfortable you are, the less you are creating. You have to feel a little bit of pain in the creation.

To have a film where there's an evil figure and a good person fights against the evil figure and everything becomes a happy ending, that's one way to make a film. But then that means you have to draw, as an animator, the evil figure. And it's not very pleasant to draw evil figures.

Ease is the enemy of the artist. When things get too easy, you're in trouble.

I’ve discovered that my best work comes from the uncomfortable but fruitful feeling of not having a clue – of being worried, secretly afraid, even convinced that I’m on the wrong track.

I think good art happens on that edge between comfortable and in a lot of pain, you know what I mean?

You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.

Unfortunately, many talented people in Hollywood find their values and politics do not reflect the content they create, and many movie themes are in direct contrast with over half of today's American families.

Every now and then, I feel terribly uncomfortable with what I'm working on, and then I think maybe I am an artist. I'm not very articulate about it, but I do know that you have to follow your gut.

The more horrific works came out of a feeling that everyone accepted my stuff too easily. I was deliberately trying to be antagonistic towards collectors and critics.

The thing is, if people get it right away, I just don't think you're making art. I think you're making something they're comfortable with. You have to challenge people. You know, it has to be new. It has to be something they haven't seen before. Just bring them something they haven't seen before. They aren't going to love it right away because they haven't seen it before. So they have to take a minute, you know?

Sometimes, trying to make a work of art can be very difficult and very painful.

To me, discomfort is a gift in the films that I'm making.

Most writers like to maintain some sort of anonymity. For me, making videos was an assault.

Acting is such a high art, and coming from theater, I know how hard it is and respect the craft. I want to look back when it ends, and say I challenged myself. I wanted to be an actor you always remember, and those who are the great ones. That's just a personal journey. If you're too comfortable you're taking it too easy. The director can direct you for two months but before that it's just you and your internal drive. I want people to go to my movies and know it'll be good, and with great actors. You never know what you'll learn from just staying in the same space with them.

Art hurts. Art urges voyages - and it is easier to stay at home.