I don’t believe there is anything that makes anyone better than anyone else. The only thing that makes anyone worse than anyone else is bad decisions.

It’s true some people have an easier time because they get certain opportunities, but that is an external factor, it is not about creativity or ability.

You don’t have to try to be unique. You are already unique. But the appeal of uniqueness is also a trap. Think of the ways you are alike. It’s that relatability that lets other people into your work.

Uniqueness is compelling when it is authentic, but being different just for the sake of being different is kind of the definition of insanity. So the tightrope of creativity is innovation with a purpose.

You want to say something new, or say something in a new way, but at the same time, you want to be understood, so you have to use a language that your audience will comprehend.

Imagine if I were going to give an important speech, but I wanted to be completely unique, so I made up my own language to deliver my speech in. No one would understand a word of it, and It would be absurd.

You can ask the hard questions, you can be as abstract or avant-garde as you like, but you might want to develop rapport first, or bring a completely unique detail to your work. If there is such a thing as a completely unique detail!

I think something like Mark Rothko’s color fields or Jackson Pollock’s action paintings may have been cutting edge when they were made, but once new ground has been broken, like on Manhattan Island, it is not virgin territory anymore.

Artists that came before us have added their work to the lexicon of art history that informs us, and as we break new ground in our work, we add to the cumulative body of human art.

It sounds like I am contradicting myself.

No! Be unique! Be authentically unique! Push the boundaries and see what you can discover. See what stones our predecessors have left unturned, and say what you have to say in whatever way you choose to say it.