Gabe Leonard
Things WorthWriting Down.
Notes, observations, and hard-won conclusions. Collected over 25 years of making art, selling it, and figuring out what the difference is.
On Art & Making
THE POINT OF ART IS TO DO IT — NOT TO ARGUE WHAT IT IS
The job of an artist is to give them something they didn't know they wanted
Artists are subjective scientists
Don't make things look right, make them better
Don't prioritize the technique over the objective
Painting is trying to make sense with abstracts. Abstract painting is trying to make sense.
The story you keep telling yourself is art
God said let there be light and then she saw that everything was art
Our common ground is art
paint naked
On Work & Persistence
Paying your dues is the only job you'll never lose
If you're not sure what you're doing, do it boldly
Don't quit. If it kills you, you won't know it
Losing persistently is the key to improvement
It doesn't matter if you HAVE what it takes, you gotta DO what it takes
If anyone can talk you out of it, you don't have what it takes
More work leads to more work
getting your ass kicked is the risk you take to be an ass kicker
Be patient, but don't wait
Do good work, meet your deadlines, be easy to work with
Not being entrenched and never quitting are the basics
Beat down the path
On Clarity & Thinking
everything is gibberish until you understand it
be uncomplicated
Don't confuse words with what they represent
Unnecessary explanation is often the sign of a lie
Nothing that's worthwhile needs an explanation
Often the solution isn't in what you should do next, it's what you should stop doing
Quit trying to make sense of it. You'll feel better
If you have a specific world view you can't see anything that doesn't support it
it only gets complicated when you try to explain it
What you really know wasn't learned with words
On Time & Progress
The future just ain't what it used to be
I'm as young as I'm ever going to get
Time is always spent, it's never saved
there is no rough draft so make this one count
Everything you did that worked before still applies to the current situation
Most everything I've done in my life that was successful was done at the last possible moment
The only thing you can improve is your standards
there is no evidence of the future
On Ego & Self
who you are isn't something to be achieved
You don't have to be anything other than you are or do anything other than you're doing
If you don't have enough people around you your ego will fill the space
you don't own anything you're only curating
You can't spell art without narcissist
You're something the environment is doing
I'm constantly reassured by the fact that I don't know what I'm doing
My story changes all the time, but I still tell it the same way
I used to be you
You've never met anyone more enlightened than you
Miscellaneous
My tombstone is going to be a revolving door
A cyclops never winks
joining the circus is the only way out of town
I think I just predicted the present
Imagination is the best source of light
Happiness is merely the lull between problems
I never thought of myself as an artist, I'm more of a math guy
the voice in my head would like to have a wider audience
