Time & Perspective Quote by Robert Motherwell

Motherwell’s line has the briskness of a studio rule disguised as street advice: walk one block for inspiration, two if you must, but never three. The wit is in the cutoff. He’s not romanticizing the muse as some distant mountain you have to hike toward; he’s policing the moment when “seeking inspiration” becomes a socially acceptable way to avoid making work.

As an Abstract Expressionist, Motherwell operated in a culture that mythologized spontaneity while demanding relentless discipline. The subtext is a rebuke to the artist-as-wanderer fantasy. One block is enough to shake loose the obvious, the habitual mental groove. Two blocks grants you a second pass, a slightly different angle, a modest recalibration. Three blocks is where the walk stops being a spark and starts becoming a narrative you tell yourself: I’m researching, I’m absorbing, I’m getting ready. It’s not that the world runs out of stimuli; it’s that your attention starts using the world as cover.

The quote also carries a modern, almost behavioral insight: creativity isn’t a scarce resource you hunt down, it’s a state you enter by changing conditions briefly, then returning to the page, canvas, or studio floor before your brain reasserts its defenses. Motherwell is effectively setting a timer on procrastination. Take a short loop to dislodge the stuckness, then get back inside and risk the embarrassment of making something that isn’t “inspired” yet. The real target isn’t distance. It’s delay.