Sol Lewitt

"One usually understands the art of the past by applying the convention of the present, thus misunderstanding the art of the past."

This to speaks to the fact that artists have to have empathy. We must have the ability to imagine how it feels to be someone else, to be somewhere else. We must do this in order to understand context. Art is very much about context, which is why some images are so powerful (think sailor kissing nurse at announcement of end of WW2). Without this ability, I think we as artists will inevitably fail, for we cannot see beyond ourselves. We would be bound by our own limited view and experiences of the world.