Advice From Sol Le Witt: Try to Do Some BAD Work

If you spend a good amount of time in your art studio fussing over and over on a painting that is screaming "cover me with Gesso" or "throw me out" you have probably reached the point where you should just go ahead and "ruin it"! In other words relinquish the "plan" you had for this piece and just "let whatever happens happen".

Below is an excerpt from a five page letter the artist Sol Le Witt wrote to Eva Hesse.

"I have much confidence in you andthough you are tormenting yourself, the work you do is very good. Try to do some BAD work — the worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell — you are not responsible for the world — you are only responsible for your work — so DO IT. And don’t think that your work has to conform to any preconceived form, idea or flavor. It can be anything you want it to be. But if life would be easier for you if you stopped working — then stop. Don’t punish yourself. However, I think that it is so deeply engrained in you that it would be easier to

DO"

https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/09/09/do-sol-lewitt-eva-hesse-letter/