Love Quote by Richard MacDonald

MacDonald’s refusal to “do commissions” isn’t just an artist’s preference; it’s a quiet rebuke to the marketplace logic that tries to turn creativity into a service industry. A commission implies a client, a deadline, a set of expectations - art as deliverable. By rejecting that structure, he’s defending a rarer idea in contemporary culture: that the artist’s primary obligation is inward, not outward.

The phrasing matters. “I like the freedom” sounds casual, almost understated, but it’s doing heavy lifting: freedom here isn’t a luxury, it’s the condition that makes the work possible. Then he splits his motivator into two engines, “heart or mind,” signaling that his process isn’t purely emotional catharsis or purely conceptual rigor; it’s permission to follow either impulse without having to justify it to a buyer. That duality also protects him from a common stereotype about sculptors as craftsmen-for-hire. He’s claiming authorship, not just skill.

Contextually, this lands in a world where public sculpture is often commissioned precisely to be safe: commemorative, brand-friendly, conflict-avoidant. MacDonald’s stance positions him against art-as-ornament and art-as-PR. The subtext is about risk. If you create what a patron requests, you can blame the brief when the work is bland. If you create what your “heart or mind” demands, you own the results - and the failures. That’s not romantic posturing; it’s a statement about responsibility and the price of making work that isn’t pre-approved.