"Whatever art form you're working in, it's crucial to see it clearly, to feel it clearly, and not to worry about the results, or how someone else will see it"
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Epps is sneaking a hard truth about creativity into a sentence that sounds almost gentle: the work gets worse the moment you start auditioning for an imaginary jury. Coming from an actor, that lands with extra bite because acting is one of the most externally judged art forms. Your face is literally the product; your choices get diced up in dailies, notes, reviews, memes. So when he says its “crucial” to see and feel the art “clearly,” he’s arguing for an internal camera angle before the industry’s camera shows up.
The pairing of “see” and “feel” is doing real labor. “See it clearly” is craft: the technical comprehension of the scene, the rhythm, the objective. “Feel it clearly” is the vulnerable part, the emotional truth that can’t be faked without turning into performance-sheen. Clarity here isn’t sterile; it’s a kind of alignment, where intention and instinct stop fighting each other.
Then comes the countercultural move: “not to worry about the results.” In a market that rewards metrics and punishes risk, that’s not naïve positivity; it’s a survival strategy. Results-thinking makes artists chase approval, and approval-chasing flattens specificity. Epps is implicitly defending the one thing audiences actually respond to, even when they claim they want something else: a committed point of view.
The final clause, “or how someone else will see it,” isn’t anti-audience so much as anti-contortion. He’s describing the discipline of making the work honest first, legible later. In an era of constant feedback loops, that’s almost radical: protect the private version of the art long enough for it to become real.
The pairing of “see” and “feel” is doing real labor. “See it clearly” is craft: the technical comprehension of the scene, the rhythm, the objective. “Feel it clearly” is the vulnerable part, the emotional truth that can’t be faked without turning into performance-sheen. Clarity here isn’t sterile; it’s a kind of alignment, where intention and instinct stop fighting each other.
Then comes the countercultural move: “not to worry about the results.” In a market that rewards metrics and punishes risk, that’s not naïve positivity; it’s a survival strategy. Results-thinking makes artists chase approval, and approval-chasing flattens specificity. Epps is implicitly defending the one thing audiences actually respond to, even when they claim they want something else: a committed point of view.
The final clause, “or how someone else will see it,” isn’t anti-audience so much as anti-contortion. He’s describing the discipline of making the work honest first, legible later. In an era of constant feedback loops, that’s almost radical: protect the private version of the art long enough for it to become real.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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