“Art is not some inessential frippery - it is the nation's means of intelligently regarding itself. To cripple or stigmatize the arts is to doom one's nation to a life of incuriosity, dullness, literalness and the worst kind of rank materialism.” KindMeanArtNationsWorstArt IsMaterialismDoomDullnessCripples Author:George Saunders
“I think all art - if it's good - is a result of really trying to create something that you can't put into words. Where language ends is where good art begins.” IfsThinkingTryingArtEndsLanguageResultsArt IsGood Art Author:James Ransone
“That's where the most beautiful art is always created, when you have someone not worried about what the outcome is.” ArtBeautifulArt IsWorriedOutcomesBeautiful Art Author:James Ransone
“I think art is the development of this interface between mind and matter, between mind and phenomenon, between what's inside of us and what's happening outside of us. It developed over the course of the last 35,000 years. We made a lot of improvements because it not only gave us the tools to understand the world better, but it also gave us better and better tools to do it. It's that continuous relationship: technology and discernment.” ThinkingWorldYearsMindArtMadeMatterLastsCoursesTechnologyDevelopmentHappeningsArt IsToolsImprovementPhenomenonDiscernmentInterfacesMind And Matter Author:Vik Muniz
“I'm not creating art that starts with politics or starts with ethics. I feel I am a conceptual artist because my art is more concerned with epistemology than ethics or politics or even aesthetics.” FeelsArtArtistCreatingEthicsArt IsConcernedAestheticsEpistemologyCreating Art Author:Vik Muniz
“A lot of abstract painters seem to be doing everything all at once now. And so these different styles are jibing and not so jibing, and they're clashing. But they all seem to be working in their own domain. Whereas back in the '60s, man, it was kind of a dull world. It was a vital world. But it was kind of contained and not too recognized by the public. Now art is absolutely recognized by the public.” MenWorldKindArtDifferentSeemsStyleArt IsPainterAbstractDullDomainDifferent Styles Author:Edward Ruscha
“You see so many beautiful things happening in this world, and you see so many things that make you want to cry and crawl under a rock. But there's an underlying feeling of magic and mystery in everything that I live for. I feel like all of my art is trying to get people to see that underlying, subtle energy that lives within everything that we see and what we don't see in this world.” PeopleWorldWantFeelsTryingArtFeelingsBeautifulEnergyMagicMysteryRocksCryThis WorldHappeningsArt IsThings HappenSubtleBeautiful Things Author:Willow Smith
“The spiritual in my art is giving up control. My paintings are based on what I can do, and what I can do is not controlled. So I give up control, and that's the spiritual aspect of the work - taking what comes and relinquishing control. Although they look very controlled, they're really not, because it's all poured paint.” GivingLooksArtI CanSpiritualCan DoPaintingGiving UpArt IsAspectPaintControlledRelinquishingRelinquishing ControlGiving Up Control Author:Pat Steir
“I'm purposeless. I'm making art because I want you to look at that painting and I want it to affect you in some way, to change what you see, to change how you see it. To change how you see something, whatever.” WayWantLooksArtPaintingArt IsI Want You Author:Pat Steir
“Art is a way you discover the past, and so it brings the past into the present and the future. That's why we have anthropologists who dig up the art from the past. You can see the refinement in the society by the art. And people will see our lack of refinement when they dig up our art.” PeopleWayArtPastArt IsOver The PastRefinementAnthropologists Author:Pat Steir
“Often much of my work is very optimistic, or solution-based. I have always believed that art is a tool for transformation, and something that should give people some kind of agency.” PeopleGivingShouldKindArtSolutionsArt IsToolsTransformationOptimisticAgencyAlways Believe Author:Pedro Reyes
“Most contemporary artists are behind the bubble in time. They're making videos that are so incredibly boring compared to a good movie. Or they're making work where I say, "You realize minimal art is 50 or 60 years old?" That's what I tell people to shock them. They just blanch.” PeopleYearsArtArtistRealizingBehindsArt IsBoringVideoContemporaryShockBubblesGood Movie Author:Alex Katz
“My problem with political art is not that it's bad art necessarily, but that it is terrible politics. We're talking about a closeted person with minimum contact with reality who has trouble tying his f**king shoes! And he's supposed to be political? A bus driver has a better perspective on things. Artists are completely indulgent.” PersonsArtProblemRealityPoliticalArtistTalkingTroublePerspectiveKingsTerribleArt IsShoesContactSupposed To BeDriversBusMinimumBus DriverPerspective On ThingsPolitical Art Author:Jonathan Santlofer
“As you may know, my motto is: "All memory is fiction." It could just as easily be: "All fiction is memory." Unpacked, these two statements defy the ease of logic, but offer some really important truths about narrative art, at the very least, and about memory. So I would say that all art is personal.” KnowsMayArtTwoImportantMemoriesFictionOffersArt IsLogicStatementsNarrativeEaseMottoMy MottoNarrative Art Author:Kwame Dawes
“Fairfield Porter who has been my model for art writing all along, said that if the most interesting thing about a work of art is its content, it's probably a failure. I think it's true that if you find yourself thinking about the meaning in an author's message, it's probably not very interesting as art. Obviously, this is a tough concept, because if you withdraw intention.” ThinkingWritingArtInterestingArt IsToughIntentionFinding YourselfVery InterestingMost Interesting Author:David Salle
“When I first came to New York, I knew some painters older than myself. I was kind of the kid who was allowed to hang out with them. That is more the way people talked in those days, it was perfectly normal to question a work's fundamental premises and its fundamental visual manifestations. It was perfectly okay to say, "Oh, that should have been red" or something like that. In a funny way, the way artists talk about art is to de-privilege it.” PeopleKindArtKidsArtistArt IsOkayPainterManifestationHanging Out Author:David Salle
“Art is not always meant to be decorative or soothing, in fact, it can create uncomfortable conversations and stimulate uncomfortable emotions.” ArtEmotionArt IsUncomfortableMeant To BeSoothing Author:Shepard Fairey
“I think art is inherently nonviolent and it actually occupies your mind with creation rather than destruction.” ThinkingMindArtCreationArt IsDestructionScar Tissue Author:Anthony Kiedis
“The writer writes about what happened in order to make it make sense, to put it in perspective, to turn it into art; and art becomes the vehicle on which we ride out the truth of our experiences.” WritingArtPerspectiveArt IsMake SenseVehicle Author:Clarence Major
“The big problem for comic art is you don't want to overwork it. If a drawing is overworked it isn't funny. It's the spontaneity that keeps a work fresh and funny. If they can see how hard you work, if they can see the beads of sweat, it's no good. I always try to make it look easy.” TryingArtProblemEasyArt IsComicSpontaneityOverwork Author:Edward Sorel
“If we educate ourselves, then the desire and need to have art as a part of our lives will happen organically. I would invite anyone to look at cultures where art is squashed. Do you want to live in North Korea? We have a president who doesn't read at all. There's a lot to worry about. I just wish, as a collective, we were much smarter.” ArtDesireCultureWishPresidentWorryArt IsEducateNorth Korea Author:Kimberly Peirce
“What I never wanted in art - and why I probably didn't belong in art - was that I never wanted viewers. I think the basic condition of art is the viewer: The viewer is here, the art is there. So the viewer is in a position of desire and frustration. There were those Do Not Touch signs in a museum that are saying that the art is more expensive than the people. But I wanted users and a habitat. I don't know if I would have used those words then, but I wanted inhabitants, participants. I wanted an interaction.” PeopleThinkingArtDesireArt IsFrustrationUsers Author:Vito Acconci
“I have a lot left inside. I believe my art will last 500 years, 1,000 years and forever. For me, art is everything. I will strive to create works of art until I die, in the hope that my work will continue to touch the hearts of people even after I have died.” PeopleBelieveHeartArtI BelieveForeverArt IsStrive Author:Yayoi Kusama
“When we even use the term 'specialized world,' we already have a problem! We're making art; they are making art... these worlds are not far apart from each other. For instance, pieces of art that hang on a wall can be seen in museums or can be used in a variety of commercial ways. That art is everywhere, so the message is that it's a part of everyday life.” WorldArtProblemTermWallArt IsEverydayVarietyEveryday Life Author:Jennifer Higdon
“I felt saddened and confused to discover my favorite mural gone, but also hopeful that another one may be in the works. Street art is mysterious and impermanent like that. It can appear or disappear overnight. Murals like these are at risk of desecration, transformation, erasure. Someone's gonna piss on it, draw a mustache on it, tag it. The weather's going to make it fade. That's part of the beauty, I think. Murals have value without being precious.” ThinkingArtValuesRiskArt IsTransformationMy FavoriteDisappearMysteriousConfusedHopefulMustacheSaddenedMural Author:Emily Raboteau
“The idea that musicians/artists have a responsibility to be community leaders or "role models" is problematic to me because I really believe that some of the most exciting art is not community-minded at least in any obvious or direct way, which is not to say that it is not ethical or consciousness-changing.” BelieveArtArtistCommunityResponsibilityLeaderMusicianArt IsDirectExcitingObviousEthicalRole Models Author:Kathleen Hanna
“As Buddhists, statues are more than simply pieces of stone to us. We believe the statue of the Buddha has a kind of soul and is the Buddha in some sense. This is why we can pray to it. Clay is a very interesting and fundamental material - it's earth, it's water and - with fire - it takes on form and life. In fact, what is art? Art is giving to what you create a soul. That's why it is said God is like an artist.” GivingBelieveKindArtSoulEarthArtistWaterInterestingPrayingArt IsBuddhistVery Interesting Author:Rithy Panh
“In the long run, you have to have patience and integrity and a plan. You can't compromise your vision. I'm a bit of a control freak, brutal when it comes to my art because I believe it's the best way of doing it, for me. My stubbornness has given us the chance to play in some amazing places that most people never would have been allowed to play in. If I don't put a value on my work, then nobody else is going to.” PeopleBelieveLongArtRunningValuesI BelieveChanceVisionIntegrityArt IsCompromiseFreakBrutalStubbornnessHaving PatienceControl Freak Author:Einar Selvik
“There are things going on in galleries recently that have shocked me. What I'm going to say is really controversial, but what I find the most provocative is the commerciality of art in general. And the fact that a lot of people have forgotten what the meaning of art is and what the intention behind it is.” PeopleArtArt IsIntentionForgottenControversialProvocative Author:Tracey Emin
“When you study art history, you learn that there is very little that is completely new, and in many ways digital art is no different. I love to derive inspiration from all types of images: mosaics, hieroglyphics, petroglyphs, woven patterns in textiles, and needlework. There is a lot of very good "pixel" design work before the 20th century, like a 1760 sampler by Elizabeth Laidman that looks like a bitmap font.” ArtDifferentInspirationStudyDesignArt IsVery Good20th CenturyArt History Author:Susan Kare
“There's enough ugliness - you know, we got wars going on and people dying and sickness and everything. We don't need to have our art be ugly. But it is, in a lot of it. And these people justify this crap by saying, "Oh we're just representing what's out there, man". Basically, you're making it worse and number one, the artist's job is to elevate people and to lift people up and to give them a place to go, something to hold on to.” PeopleMenGivingArtWarEnoughDyingArt IsUglySicknessJustifyCrapUglinessPeople Dying Author:Don McLean
“Art is something someone made. It's a product of human endeavor. As such, it's not that different from having a conversation with someone. The painter is telling us something. Just, how do they - what's their syntax? What's their inflection?” ArtDifferentArt IsPainter Author:David Salle
“We live in a world where art is always looked upon as the perfect medium. We live in a society where we can alter our body parts, we can act in the most perfect or right way. A lot of that is dangerous because, especially in the world of art, the chief enemy of creativity is being safe. If you're safe, you can't fall and hurt yourself. The older you are, the further down the crash is going to be. But if it works out, the higher the high.” WorldArtFallHurtPerfectEnemyCreativityDangerousArt IsWork OutCrash Author:Nicolas Winding Refn
“Visionary art sure has played a vital role in my own "soul's journey," and I would say it's been important for many artists and viewers throughout history. Visionary art is one of the primary ways that human contact with higher subtle dimensions gets translated into our communally shared physical dimension.” ArtImportantArtistJourneyArt Is Author:Alex Grey
“Personal evolution has nothing to do with art, it's never. Art is a sine curve: dark and light change permanently, in cumulative radicalism. Art decides what to do. The choice of colors is made by the colors themselves. The evolution of art is the evolution of the future itself.” ArtChoicesDarkEvolutionArt Is Author:Jonathan Meese
“Becoming mature is not important for art. Technical perfection is not relevant to art. Precision in art is only achieved by total duty of loyalty. Love, lusciousness, birth and fertility are precise tools of art, like laws.” ArtImportantDutyBirthArt IsPerfectionLoyaltyMatureRelevant Author:Jonathan Meese
“Art is never about provocation and never about human taste. Since the human being is not the measure for art, provocation cannot be the artistic aim. Art is about necessity, not about human will. Society is more and more brainwashed and mistakes itself for art.” ArtMistakeArt IsAimArtisticBrainwashedHuman Will Author:Jonathan Meese
“Jonathan Meese is not interested in the history of reality. Everything radical and precisely graphic is sustainable. Human ideologies like religions and politics are based on the past and therefore irrelevant to art. Art always transforms radicalism of the past into the future. Art is always the total time machine. Jonathan Meese is interested in the history of the future. Art is never nostalgic.” ArtRealityPastArt IsIdeologyRadicalNot InterestedIrrelevantGraphicNostalgicReligion And PoliticsTime Machine Author:Jonathan Meese
“When people downloading records for free you start to think, "Is it worth spending all this money to make a record sound good, especially if it's going to end up as an mp3?" But I can't drive myself too crazy thinking about that. On one level, being involved in art is all a quixotic thing to begin with.” PeopleThinkingArtCrazyArt Is Author:Will Sheff
“I guess the role of art is to make something that is ambiguous and complex.” ArtArt IsAmbiguous Author:Carrie Brownstein
“Art is not politics. The glory of the novel is that in its essence, it is a democratic form, because it treats individuals as worthy of scrutiny. That alone is a kind of political act. A good novel about a tea party of rich women can be just as galvanizing and important to the soul as War and Peace, so I think it's not really the job of artists to do anything. They can have their opinions as private citizens, but they must continue making their art.” ThinkingKindArtImportantWarSoulPoliticalArtistIndividualPartyOpinionNovelRichGloryArt IsDemocraticWorthyTeaTea Party Author:Paul Auster
“I like art that challenges you and makes a lot of people angry because they don't get it. Because they refuse to look at it properly. Rather than open their mind to the possibility of seeing something, they just resist. A lot of people think contemporary art makes them feel stupid. Because they are stupid. They're right. If you have contempt about contemporary art, you are stupid. You can be the most uneducated person in the world and completely appreciate contemporary art, because you see the rebellion. You see that it's trying to change things.” PeopleThinkingWorldTryingMindArtChallengesStupidPossibilityArt IsAppreciateRebellionContemptUneducatedTrying To Change Author:John Waters
“For me getting paid for art is a class issue. I don't have the luxury not to care. It's great if your parents buy you a house and you can sell your 400-page book for $2. But for marginalized people it's not as cool to martyr yourself.” PeopleArtBookCareHouseParentArt IsMartyr Author:Nicole Georges
“If you want to be an artist, you have to know that art is an ongoing practice, that you're part of a long line. Take this test: if someone offered you a billion dollars, but you could never draw another illustration or write another word, would you take it? If you reject it, you need to find another way to pay the bills, but you're still an artist.” WritingLongArtArtistArt Is Author:Nicole Georges
“This is the thing: Art is more important than making a show, something that amuses people. Art is something that needs to give to the public, to the actors, to the artist - to give something that makes life the paradise it can be. Life can be a paradise. Still, I believe that. Even if there is Trump, there can be a paradise.” PeopleGivingBelieveArtImportantArtistI BelieveArt Is Author:Alejandro Jodorowsky
“I felt, "Oh, film is a great art because I can pull in music and visual imagery, and it has its literary aspects and drama." Film was a sort of Wagnerian synthesis of the arts, as opposed to opera, which Wagner had thought would be. That's another art form that has seen its best days.” ArtFilmDramaArt IsGreat ArtImageryWagner Author:James Toback
“I don't think ever before in the whole of human history has so much art been made, bought, and sold. It's a massive international business. So, I think there's a lot of reasons why the art world as opened up and I think on the whole, it's far better for it.” ThinkingWorldArtReasonArt Is Author:Will Gompertz
“For any artistic person who creates imaginary people, the art is like inhabiting the life and mind of a seven-year-old child with imaginary friends and imaginary events and imaginary grace and imaginary tragedy. Within that alternate universe, the characters do have quite a bit of free will. I know it's happening in my mind and my mind alone, but they seem to have their own ability to shape their destinies. So I'm not shooting for anything. If the characters are vulnerable it's simply because they're very human.” PeopleMindChildrenArtCharacterUniverseAbilityDestinyGraceArt IsTragedyVulnerableArtisticFree WillImaginaryImaginary Friend Author:Bob Shacochis
“Artists make their work to be seen by others. Well, really we do it to please ourselves, but whatever your art is, you want it to be seen by an audience. In theory, especially in the independent world, ironically, you do stand a chance of making a bit of money if the film gets distribution.” WorldArtFilmArtistChanceAudienceArt IsIndependent Author:Alex Cox