Monthly Archives: March 2007

An Interview with Ze Frank

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The Show's Ze Frank talks about unsolvable problems, "brain surfing," pain management, and how creative pursuits change perception.

Ze Frank

Photo credit: Scott Beale / laughingsquid.com.

Are there any techniques that you use in your creative process that help you generate new ideas?

Self-awareness is one of the big keys. If you read a lot of the psychology literature on creativity, one of the only real, solid correlations with being able to shift your creative output is the belief that you can change it. So for me — I think I picked this up in a Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi book — I’ve spent a long time just trying to figure out the kind of cycles that I go through, trying to pay attention to the different kinds of states that I find myself in.

There are times when I feel like I’m craving what I call unsolvable problems, and I have the kind of energy you need to move forward into uncharted territory and brave that side of things. And then there are other times when that seems like the most difficult chore in the world. So I’ve also gotten pretty comfortable knowing when I need to pick up solvable problems. Programming definitely fills that void for me. Also illustrating, doing little illustrations, things like that. This is a long-winded way of saying that I think I’ve got a range of techniques that feed into how I’m feeling at that particular moment.

Do you have any day-to-day habits you rely on?

I make something every day — I think that’s really the only habit that I’ve fallen into over the last few years. No matter what, I make something. This last year with The Show has been kind of convenient because it’s given me structure to play against. Before that, with the zefrank.com project, there was less structure and it was a lot more difficult. The Show narrowed the focus and made it a little bit easier because I know exactly what I have to work on each day. That aside, there’s this thing I try to do that I call “brain surfing.” Do you know the technique “morphological synthesis”?

I don’t.

There’s a really beautiful book by James L. Adams called Conceptual Blockbusting. It’s a book that was written in the ’70s on creativity. The idea is, you just start with a concept that’s immediate to you. I mean “immediate” in that you have some kind of direct emotional connection to it in that moment. And it can be as simple as a word. Maybe somebody pissed you off in line, or you’re worried that your toe is broken. And you just start with that and begin to associate things with it. It’s not really free association, so it’s not just anything that comes to mind. But you tell little stories to yourself that move you away from that initial concept.

So if it’s your toe being broken, you start thinking to yourself, well, what would happen if something else was broken and you tried to drive a car? Then you move away from that and you think about the worst car race ever. Now you’ve moved into a demolition derby. And you just sort of work in circles. At different points you stop and relate wherever you are back to the original concept. And just play. Sometimes I write these things down on paper, and sometimes I just sit there and do them in my head. But for me, it’s a nice little play zone where you can find very weird and silly things.

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Category: Stage/Screen, Visual Arts/Design

An Interview with Bob Holman

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Poet, teacher, and impresario Bob Holman talks about riding along on the tip of an eyelash, the importance of orality, and how performing is editing.

Bob HolmanAre there any habits or tactics that you use to help feed your creativity?

I’m a poet, I guess, because the tempo of a poem fits into my life. If I had a different kind of discipline, I’m sure I would write infinitely long novels. Poems ride along on the tip of your eyelash and can come and go in a blink. It’s important that you be there when they want to happen. And the way to be there is to give yourself time to percolate; you can read, you can walk, you can sit there and dream.

The other part is to be ready when they are. Which is to say, a notebook and a writing implement are your passport. I love writing in darkened theaters and at art museums. But it’s also important to have [these tools] beside your bed so no dream gets lost.

What do you do when you’re feeling creatively dry?

I read. There are a few marvelous exercises I love. I studied with Kenneth Koch at Columbia, so I’m in love with imitations — writing imitations of the greats who came before you. Finding out your own tastes as a poet, creating your own lineage is part of the job.

The thing to remember about a poem is that it is not made of emotions. It’s not made of wisdom. It’s not made of your most secret interior life being vomited out on a page. It’s made out of words. So start with words — what word is working for you right now? And put that down.

If you need a word, I also suggest going to the bookshelf and saying, well whose word do I need? I find myself often needing a John Ashbery word, so I just go to Ashbery, and I open him up, and I find a word in there that’s going to work. All poets’ vocabularies are distinct, so what kind of word do you need? If you need a Wanda Coleman word, you’re going to go to Wanda. Translating experience into words, all you need to do is open your eyes to the silence like John Cage did, and the poem’s right in front of you.

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Category: Writing

An Interview with James Warren Perry

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Painter James Warren Perry talks about self-regenerating art, giving thanks, and why he aims for irony-free, unrepentant beauty.

Sanctuary #3, 42" x 72" acrylic on canvas, private collection. Reproduced courtesy of the artist.

Sanctuary #3, 42″ x 72″ acrylic on canvas,
private collection. Reproduced courtesy of the artist.

What helps you generate new ideas?

Travel is a wonderful way to feed your creativity. You’re taken out of your normal context and can assess things in your daily life from a different point of view. I paint all over the world. When I’m off in Southeast Asia and then come back to Northern California, the shapes that seem very familiar to me on a day-to-day basis somehow seem quite exotic.

Do you have any day-to-day habits that you rely on?

I’m really glad that you used that word — “habit.” Honestly, most artists that I know who have had sustained periods of productivity — people who have made careers of it — are very regular in their working habits. They just get up in the morning and they do it. Getting in the habit, that’s the thing that will sustain you much more than the stereotype of the artist who’s in the throes of creativity.

If you look at how artists have been portrayed in films, most of it’s not great. [laughter] I always think of Kirk Douglas in Lust for Life. He’s in the throes of madness. Most people I know that are pretty darn good artists, they’re just somehow regular people. They just get up in the morning and work.

On your website you talk about the importance of quieting your mind and giving focused attention. Are there any techniques in particular that you use to accomplish that?

I’m a lousy meditator. Or, let’s say I’m a very undisciplined meditator. But on the other hand my painting is very meditative. If I’m out on location, I’ll find something that really speaks to me. And I’ll set up and just take a big deep breath before I get going. And I’ll meditate.

I’ll also give thanks. I have a ritual: I paint with water-based paints, and every time I clean out my bucket, I always drop a little bit of water on the ground. It’s just my way of giving back and saying thank you and being very present about what it is that I’m going to receive. Even the most mundane moments can be very special, if we choose to be conscious.

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Category: Visual Arts/Design

An Interview with Howard Kremer, aka Dragon Boy Suede

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Stand up comic, sitcom writer, and rapper Howard Kremer talks about the upside of getting bored easily, the power of changing one thing, and finding his name scribbled in a copy of The Artist's Way.

What techniques do you use to help you come up with new ideas?

Howard Kremer, aka Dragon Boy SuedeI take walks. I find that if I’m stationary, sometimes it’s not going to happen. I take drives. I’ll force myself to go to bed if I’m not tired, because if I lay there and toss and turn then I get ideas. Other than that I have — I guess they’re formulas? I’ll change one thing. I’ll look at an object or a situation or a show and just change one thing about it. What if oranges were square? What if Gilbert Gottfried was the star of 24? If you change one thing in a dynamic, it changes all the other relationships, so you start to be able to abstract it and look at it in a different way.

Does listening to music help your productivity or get in the way? For me, for example, taking a long walk without music can be a big help.

Oh completely. An iPod, or even having the radio on in the house, or if you’re going for a drive and you have a CD in, you’re just not going to really create during that time. Which sometimes is good because you have to absorb too. Joe Strummer said that — you have to have input to have output.

Can you describe the creative process you use when you’re working on a sitcom script? Is there anything in particular that you do to stay focused and get your work done?

Yeah, well, we have deadlines.

[laughter] That’s pretty straightforward — have deadlines and hit them.

Yeah. You know, I have a writing partner. A lot of times, we come up with the raw ideas for the story and then go meet at a coffee shop to work them out and distill them down to what we want to do. One of us will have an idea for a show, and then we’ll try to see if we can expand it into a pitch. And we’ll get together and flesh that out day by day. We meet for a couple of hours about three times a week.

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Category: Stage/Screen, Writing