Art is parasitic on life, just as criticism is parasitic on art.

The remark frames artistic creation as dependent on lived experience: art draws its raw material—events, emotions, social realities—from “life,” rather than existing in a vacuum. Extending the chain, criticism is portrayed as a secondary activity that depends on art’s prior existence, feeding on it for subject matter and authority. The word “parasitic” is deliberately provocative, suggesting dependence and perhaps a hint of resentment toward critics who, in this view, contribute less than creators. Read more neutrally, it describes an ecosystem: life generates art; art generates criticism; each layer interprets and transforms what came before.