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Artist Quotes

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Artist Quotes

“I think an artist's responsibility is more complex than people realize.”

People Thinking Art Artist Realizing Responsibility Creativity Creative Complexes Positive Thoughts

Author:Jodie Foster

“All the old bogeys of 'dignified subject-matter,' of 'balanced compositions,' of 'correct drawing' were laid to rest. The artist was responsible to no one but his own sensibilities for what he painted and how he painted it.”

Matter Artist Responsibility Subjects Responsible Drawing Balanced Composition Sensibility Subject Matter

Author:Ernst Gombrich

“It's the artist's duty to have an artist's life, somehow to obtain time and freedom and then to muster the desire and discipline to make good work out of the life, whether that goodness is in the world's aesthetics, its radicalism, its candor, its singularity, or its universality.”

World Desire Artist Responsibility Duty Discipline Goodness Work Out Good Work Aesthetics Singularity Candor Muster Universality Radicalism

Book:Epicurean Simplicity

Source: Epicurean Simplicity

“The responsibility of the artist consists in perfecting his work so that it may become attractively disinteresting.”

May Artist Interest Responsibility

Book:Silence: Lectures and Writings, 50th Anniversary Edition

Source: Silence: Lectures and Writings, 50th Anniversary Edition

“The artist's duty to himself is a combination of immense responsibility and immense irresponsibility. I think those two interlock.”

Thinking Two Artist Responsibility Duty Combination Immense Irresponsibility

Author:David Cronenberg

“In the early days of my carer as an actor, I shared what was then the prevailing attitude of Negro performers :;that the content and form of a play or a film scenario was of little importance to us. What mattered was was the opportunity, which came so seldom to our folks ... Later I came to understand that the Negro artist could not view the matter simply in terms of of his individual interests, and that he had a responsibility to his people who rightfully resented the traditional stereotyped portrayals of Negros on stage and screen.”

“A band has a certain responsibility to work songs for years and stick to rules more. A solo artist can just do whatever they want, and also present themselves as somebody who's just singing about their life.”

Want Years Artist Certain Song Responsibility Band Singing Sticks Solo

Author:Christopher Owens

“It is not the job of art to mirror. Images reflected in a mirror appear to us in reverse. An artist's responsibility is to reveal consciousness; to produce a human document.”

Humans Art Jobs Artist Consciousness Responsibility Produce Mirrors Reverse Documents Mirror Image

Book:Squeak Carnwath, recent paintings: September 8-October 8, 1994, John Berggruen Gallery

Source: Squeak Carnwath, recent paintings: September 8-October 8, 1994, John Berggruen Gallery

“It is not enough to hold the line against the dark. It is your responsibility to lead into the light. People don't like the light--it reveals too much. But hand in hand with the creative artist, you can lead people into the wisdom that is known to all other animals: simply, that it is the dark we have to fear.”

People Enough Hands Light Artist Lines Dark Animal Responsibility Known Creative Too Much Hand In Hand Creative Art Creative Artists

Author:Edward Albee

“My responsibility as an artist is to turn up at the page or the piano or the microphone. The rest is up to God.”

Artist Turns Responsibility Pages Piano Microphones

Author:Nick Cave

“I honestly believe that sound commercialism is the best test of true value in art. People work hard for their money and if they won't part with it for your product the chances are that your product hasn't sufficient value. An artist or writer hasn't any monopoly .... If the public response to his artistry is lacking, he'd do well to spend more time analyzing what's the matter with his work, and less time figuring what's the matter with the public.”

Source: Pegasus Pulls a Hack: Memoirs of a Modern Minstrel

“To be an artist is to take responsibility for the world's destiny. You shape it by your vision.”

World Artist Responsibility Vision Destiny Shapes Taking Responsibility

Author:Laurence Gartel

“I think part of being an artist is having the ability to define your own responsibilities. I certainly wouldn't prescribe any. As far as I'm concerned, my biggest responsibility is to my own imagination. We're all conduits. Art preceded me, and it'll be here long after I'm gone.”

Thinking Long Art Artist Imagination My Own Ability Responsibility Gone Concerned Being An Artist

Author:Pierre Coupey

“Artists are messengers whose responsibility is to unite the world -- a faith that will lead not to destruction but to transformation.”

World Artist Responsibility Destruction Transformation Messengers

Author:Alice Walker

“As a great democratic society, we have a special responsibility to the arts. For art is the great democrat, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color. What freedom alone can bring is the liberation of the human mind and a spirit which finds its greatest flowering in the free society. I see of little more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than the full recognition of the place of the artist.”