[T]o be an artist is like to be [sic] an aristocrat. […] It is to be out of the classification. And I like to be out of any classification.

Anselm Kiefer, in Karl Ove Knausgaard, “Into the Black Forest with the Greatest Living Artist”

Any adversity makes artists move closer to what is important, essential. Only time can show what fruits will such a focusing on the essential bear.

Arvo Pärt