"If you really want to do it, you do it. There are no excuses"
About this Quote
Nauman’s line has the blunt force of a studio door slamming shut: either you work, or you’re telling yourself stories about why you can’t. Coming from a sculptor whose practice is as much about endurance and repetition as it is about objects, the quote reads less like a motivational poster and more like a pressure test. It’s an ethic of attention disguised as tough love.
The intent is to strip artmaking of its romance. Nauman emerged in the late 1960s, when artists were actively demystifying the “genius” myth and dragging process into the light: the body pacing, the mind looping, the studio as a site of labor rather than inspiration. “No excuses” isn’t about purity; it’s about confronting the ordinary ways we dodge the hard part: uncertainty, boredom, embarrassment, the fear of making something bad. Nauman’s own work often stages those feelings rather than resolving them, turning constraint into content. That’s why the sentence lands with a sting. It refuses the comforting belief that the right mood, the right tools, or the right timing will arrive and then the work will begin.
The subtext is also a quiet accusation aimed at the culture around art: the tendency to treat creativity as a special weather system instead of a practice. For Nauman, “really want” isn’t a warm wish; it’s a measurable commitment. If you’re waiting, you don’t want it badly enough - or you want something else more, like approval, certainty, or safety.
The intent is to strip artmaking of its romance. Nauman emerged in the late 1960s, when artists were actively demystifying the “genius” myth and dragging process into the light: the body pacing, the mind looping, the studio as a site of labor rather than inspiration. “No excuses” isn’t about purity; it’s about confronting the ordinary ways we dodge the hard part: uncertainty, boredom, embarrassment, the fear of making something bad. Nauman’s own work often stages those feelings rather than resolving them, turning constraint into content. That’s why the sentence lands with a sting. It refuses the comforting belief that the right mood, the right tools, or the right timing will arrive and then the work will begin.
The subtext is also a quiet accusation aimed at the culture around art: the tendency to treat creativity as a special weather system instead of a practice. For Nauman, “really want” isn’t a warm wish; it’s a measurable commitment. If you’re waiting, you don’t want it badly enough - or you want something else more, like approval, certainty, or safety.
Quote Details
| Topic | Self-Discipline |
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