“O art I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me.” ArtVisitorsBarthelme Book:Forty Stories Source: Forty Stories
“One of the pleasures of art is that it enables the mind to move in unanticipated directions, to make connections that may be in some sense errors but are fruitful nonetheless.” MindMayArtMovingPleasureArt IsConnectionsErrors Author:Donald Barthelme
“What an artist does, is fail. Any reading of the literature, (I mean the literature of artistic creation), however summary, will persuade you instantly that the paradigmatic artistic experience is that of failure. The actualization fails to meet, equal, the intuition. There is something "out there" which cannot be brought "here". This is standard. I don't mean bad artists, I mean good artists. There is no such thing as a "successful artist" (except, of course, in worldly terms).” MeanDoeArtArtistCoursesReadingLiteratureTermSuccessfulFailingCreationEqualStandardsIntuitionArtisticWorldlyGood ArtSummaryGood ArtistActualizationArtistic CreationSuccessful Artists Author:Donald Barthelme
“Art is not difficult because it wishes to be difficult, rather because it wishes to be art. However much the writer might long to be straightforward, these virtues are no longer available to him. He discovers that in being simple, honest, straightforward, nothing much happens.” LongArtMightHappensWishDifficultSimpleVirtueHonestArt IsAvailableStraightforward Author:Donald Barthelme
“I don’t think you can talk about progress in art—movement, but not progress.” ThinkingArtProgressMovementHorizontal Lines Author:Donald Barthelme
“The not-knowing is crucial to art, is what permits art to be made. Without the scanning process engendered by not-knowing, without the possibility of having the mind move in unanticipated directions, there would be no invention.” MindArtMadeWould BeMovingProcessKnowingPossibilityArt IsInventionPermitCrucialNot KnowingScanning Author:Donald Barthelme
“Art is not difficult because it wishes to be difficult, but because it wishes to be art.” ArtWishDifficultArt Is Author:Donald Barthelme
“I don't think you can talk about progress in art - movement, but not progress. You can speak of a point on a line for the purpose of locating things, but it's a horizontal line, not a vertical one.” ThinkingArtPurposeSpeakLinesProgressMovementVerticalHorizontalHorizontal Lines Author:Donald Barthelme
