“I'm not against art fairs, in fact this last one I even made money, but the concept is really disgusting. If you're that rich to be able to hang out for two or three days, you're certainly rich enough to get on a plane and go to Munich or Düsseldorf or wherever and see somebody's real show instead of this stuff just stacked around.” IfsArtMadeTwoRealEnoughFactsShowsAbleLastsThreeStuffRichConceptsFairsPlanesHanging OutDisgustingMunich Author:Lawrence Weiner
“As nice as some of the booths are, it's not the same thing. It's a pity for young artists, because one of the things that a younger artist can look forward to is an emerging dealer who has a space that they can take over and build whatever will suit whatever aesthetic they find themselves in. In an art fair, you turn yourself into an object.” LooksArtYoungArtistTurnsSpaceNiceObjectsFairsPitySuitsAestheticEmergingDealerYoung Artists Author:Lawrence Weiner
“The concept of who your audience is becomes more important than your site. Sometimes you can be commissioned to do a piece in Strasburg, and it works. Sometimes you're commissioned to do a piece somewhere else and it doesn't work, but then it moves to another city, the people embrace it, and becomes part of them. You just misjudged the needs of the people. Art is about giving people material and things to work with to fulfill whatever needs they have.” PeopleNeedsGivingArtImportantSometimesMovingCitiesAudiencePiecesMaterialsArt IsConceptsEmbraceSiteSomewhere Else Author:Lawrence Weiner
“I'm keeping everything on a human level, but essentially everything in our lives has to be on a human level. Any specification of something by art history doesn't make any sense. The point is, if you have a loving, adorable, supportive mother anywhere in the world and you tell her all of your dreams, all of your aspirations, and the reward you would like, and she understands you, then it's not worth doing.” IfsWorldHumansArtDreamMotherLevelsOur LivesRewardsYour DreamsAspirationSupportiveAdorableArt HistorySpecifications Author:Lawrence Weiner
“Think about it: you've already related it down to something that somebody else can understand. If art relates to something - it's like Picasso, it's like Mondrian - it's not. Art's supposed to be what it is. Using a reference of art history might help for some kind of sales, but it doesn't really help anybody. Art is what it is; it cannot be footnoted, until it enters the world. Then it has a history. Then the footnotes are the history, not the explanation.” IfsThinkingWorldKindArtHelpingMightArt IsSupposed To BeRelateExplanationRelatedArt HistoryFootnotes Author:Lawrence Weiner
“The only art I'm interested in is the art I don't understand right away. If you understand it right away it really has no use except as nostalgia.” IfsArtUseUnderstandingInterestNostalgia Author:Lawrence Weiner
“There's a radical change in the relationship with the human being and society. Art now is an open conversation with the society. Previously there was a necessity for a little bit of screaming and shouting just to get it into the conversation.” HumansLittlesArtBitsHuman BeingsConversationLittle BitRadicalShoutingRadical Change Author:Lawrence Weiner
“The art schools seem to be trying to turn people out as "professional." But I don't know what the word "professional" means any longer. "Professional" would be somebody who was trying to push painting to a point that nobody else could do as well as he could. That would be my ideal professional.” PeopleKnowsTryingWellsMeanArtSeemsWould BeSchoolTurnsPaintingIdealsArt School Author:Lawrence Weiner
“Accreditation. The "doctorate of fine art." I've never heard something so stupid in my entire life.” ArtHeardStupidFineFine ArtsDoctorates Author:Lawrence Weiner
“Art history is fine. I mean, that's a discipline. Art history is art history, and you start from the beginning and you end up in artist in time. But art is a little bit different. Art is a conversation. And if there's no conversation, what the hell is it about?” IfsMeanLittlesArtDifferentEndsArtistBitsHellFineDisciplineConversationLittle BitArt IsArt History Author:Lawrence Weiner
“There is a discrepancy of somebody going to an art dealer and promising what they'll make for the next three years. And I'm old fashioned that way; I think that every exhibition you make is supposed to put you in the world, that the next exhibition is spinning off of that. It's almost like a riff. And if you know what you're going to do for the next three years, why don't just do it the final point? You would think, in a progressive situation, that the final would be the best.” IfsThinkingKnowsWorldWayYearsArtWould BeThreeNextSituationFinalsBeing The BestProgressiveThree YearsOld FashionedSpinningJust Do ItDealerExhibitionsDiscrepancies Author:Lawrence Weiner
“What art is not processed? "Conceptual art." Somebody making a painting has to conceive of the size. I don't understand where these words came from. I can't accept the fact that the concept of art as our concept of humanity is expanding.” ArtI CanFactsHumanityAcceptingPaintingArt IsConceptsSizeExpandingConceptual Art Author:Lawrence Weiner
“In my eyes, making art is very often about something that you don't know.” KnowsArtEyeArt Is Author:Lawrence Weiner
“I think there should be a reworking of the value structure of art. The value is when the artist makes a first engagement with society. That work has the most value. That is the function of the artist. That result.” ThinkingShouldFirstsArtArtistValuesResultsFunctionStructureEngagement Author:Lawrence Weiner
“I would imagine, a very large percentage of people who get something for art and they do something else, and they have some excess resources. And they trade those resources with artists whose work makes them feel good, or feel better, or question. And the artist, if they're smart, they use it to buy the most expensive thing in the world: time to make more. The more that come, the better it is for these people, their children, the people they care about, fills the society with a real constant thing.” PeopleIfsWorldFeelsChildrenArtRealUseCareArtistImagineSmartResourcesTradeConstantFeel GoodExpensiveExcessFeel BetterPercentages Author:Lawrence Weiner
“There are people who speculate at objects. I don't think that makes them evil or not evil. It doesn't matter; in order to speculate, it has to be made public. Once it's made public, it's functioned is art.” PeopleThinkingArtMadeMatterOrderEvilObjects Author:Lawrence Weiner
“Trying to make certain things on the Internet totally private unless you subscribe. It's not going to work. If you can figure out how to close something down, somebody can figure out how to open it up. That's art.” IfsTryingArtCertainFiguresInternetGoing To Work Author:Lawrence Weiner
“Like the people that in the 60s or 70s claimed the "end of painting" - all they did was open up a whole new branch for painting. Happily, it doesn't work. It's not a reason for art. Closing something out is not a reason for something to exist.” PeopleArtEndsReasonWholePaintingBranchesWorking ItClosing Author:Lawrence Weiner
“Art that imposes conditions - human or otherwise - on the receiver for its appreciation in my eyes constitutes aesthetic fascism.” HumansArtEyeConditionsAppreciationFascismAestheticReceiver Author:Lawrence Weiner
