I wonder, in other words, whether the work of doing the laundry or washing the dishes—these are almost always the examples, but they stand in for a host of similar activities—might not provide a certain indispensable grounding to the artistic endeavor, tethering it to the world in a vital rather than stupefying manner. Or, to take another angle, whether a fidelity to such tasks might not yield certain virtues that might also sustain the artist in their labors: attentiveness, patience, perseverance, or humility, for example.

— L. M. Sacasas

I think a preoccupation with art, in which the work of art actually supersedes the work of life, is part of the reason why so much art has a recursive element now — that is, why so much art is just about…art. Art is very important. And certainly more important than many other things. But art is not ultimately important, and to act as if it is diminishes and perverts what’s good about it. Kelly Reichardt’s movie Showing Up touches on this a bit.