A good artist must be a collector.
All artists – even transformational ones – build on the creations that come before theirs. And so the best artists collect as much art as they can; collect images, collect recordings, collect ideas.
When the time comes to create, your collection becomes a palette you can use in your own art. Every additional artistic idea you’ve experienced widens your range of accessible color, enabling you to find fresh shades in your own work.
Be voracious. Take advantage of the ready availability of so much art. Absorb it, imitate it, critique it…but most of all, collect it.
Your art may sound nothing like the art that you’ve collected, but it will be richer nonetheless because you collected.