Pp 117 Artist Quotes

Just for the record, being smeared with shit and naked in the wilderness, spattered with pink vomit, this does not necessarily make you a real artist. ~ Chuck Palahniuk

It's nice that people can call me an artist and it's nice that I can refer to myself as such, but it also kind of separates me from the common man in a way that I don't wish to be, so craftsperson makes me feel a bit more connected. ~ Matana Roberts

When the artist observes nature ... it is as if nature communicated, through the sensitivity of the artist at that moment, one of its secrets. ~ Bruno Munari

It's not in the interest of the artist to think of his market. ~ Chris Van Allsburg

When people ask me who I'd want to have dinner with, dead or alive, I always say, 'John Lennon.' I just feel that he was an artist who was, in his own way, committed to wholeness and authenticity in a not dissimilar way that I am years later. ~ Alanis Morissette

If you're drawing a Western town, you can duplicate that Western town from instinct alone. Some artists may take it from other illustrations or duplicate what you've drawn, but it will never have that gut reality that's instinctive in the artist. ~ Jack Kirby

No one has been able to define or synthesize that precarious, splendid, and perhaps untidy instant when the creative process begins. This is what the uniqueness of the artist is all about. The transcendent right of the artist is the right to create even though he may not always know what he is doing. ~ Norman Cousins

Artistic style is only a means to an end, and the more styles you have, the better. To get trapped in a style is to lose all flexibility. If you have only one style, then you're going to do the same book over and over, which is pretty dull. Lots of styles permit you to walk in and out of books. So, develop a fine style, a fat style, and fairly slim style, and a really rough style.
As an aspiring artist, you should strive for originality of vision. Have something to say and a fresh way of saying it. No story is worth the writing, no picture worth the making, if it's not the work of the imagination. ~ Maurice Sendak

For the artist, drawing is discovery. And that is not just a slick phrase; it is quite literally true. ~ John Berger

I love my early movies, but naturalism is an artist's early style. Now I want to deal with feelings, dreams, an acceptance of irrationality. ~ Irvin Kershner

The right to free expression is something one seizes, not something one is given ... if it does exist, it exists to be used against the established order ... There is absolute opposition between the artist and the state. ~ Pablo Picasso

Only an artist as preternaturally acute and copacetic, as oddly visionary and just odd as Richard Artschwager, would be able to lay out the whole course of human evolution and have it make some kind of sense while also seeming like a dazzling insight. ~ Jerry Saltz

Paul is a very creative artist but I'm more that thorough, meticulous, disciplined nut. ~ Art Garfunkel

Breakthrough artists always expand the very concept of freedom. ~ Talismanist Giebra

I said that when I establish myself as an artist that can do pretty much anything I want to do in music, I'm going to make a country album. ~ R. Kelly

Whether or not the artist can fulfill a social function is a question that remains unanswered. ~ Jorg Immendorff

A sailor is distinguished by the number of storms he has overcome.
A warrior is distinguished by the number of opponents he has conquered.
A doctor is distinguished by the number of patients he has healed.
A preacher is distinguished by the number of sermons he has delivered.
A ruler is distinguished by the number of lives he has improved.
A celebrity is distinguished by the number of hearts he has impressed.
A policeman is distinguished by the number of criminals he has arrested.
A teacher is distinguished by the number of students he has graduated.
An athlete is distinguished by the number of competitions he has won.
An author is distinguished by the number of books he has penned.
An artist is distinguished by the number of portraits he has painted.
An architect is distinguished by the number of buildings he has designed.
A sculptor is distinguished by the number of statues he has fashioned.
A musician is distinguished by the number of songs he has composed.
A lawyer is distinguished by the number of cases he was won.
A scientist is distinguished by the number of discoveries he has made.
A priest is distinguished by the number of souls he has saved.
A guru is distinguished by the number of schools he has established. ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

I'm happy to say that at 62, I think I've reached that point where stuff doesn't bother me as much, and my gratitude level has gone way up, especially having gone through the loss that I've had, and losing so many of the great artists that I was close to. They taught me how to see it with a grain of salt and a lot of humor and perspective. ~ Bonnie Raitt

He ground his teeth together, the torture of it almost more than he could bear.
The urge to pull her to him was overwhelming, but to do that would cost him dearly, for no doubt she would run out the door, damning him with every step.
This was Lorelei, the artist, and she didn't see him as a man. Right now, he was about as human as the ridiculous fruit she'd painted in the past. And if he played along with her wants, perhaps she'd let him show her his ... banana. ~ Kinley MacGregor

If we are as free as we like to believe, then it makes sense that we are free to choose who we want to be. And then we set out into the world to acquire the knowledge, the wisdom, and the experience we need in order to become the painters, the dancers, the actors, the writers we have always dreamed of being.
We need a reason for everything we do in life.
Artists are guided by passion, by the need to create. And our emotions and dreams are amplified by our art. Whether a conscious decision or not, in order to be an artist, one has to create art. ~ Cristian Mihai

When art seems to be empty of meaning, as no doubt some of the abstract painting of our own day actually does seem, what the painting says, indeed what the artist is shrieking at the top of his voice, is that life has become empty of all rational content and coherence, and that, in times like these, is far from a meaningless statement. ~ Lewis Mumford

The art of living involves the act of creation. The work of art is nothing. It is only the tangible, visible evidence of a way of life, which, if it is not crazy is certainly different from the accepted way of life ... For the artist to attach himself to his work, or identify himself with it, is suicidal. ~ Henry Miller

No artist can create without an inspiration; no man can work so without a muse. So it is with your prince. Everything I've ever done, every piece you've ever heard, every tune I've ever scribbled in the wee hours as a Mad Prince does, they are all because of one woman, who owns me heart and soul."
This was met with awwws and cries about the power of love.
Eric looked out at the crowd, but his eyes didn't find hers. It didn't matter. Ariel knew he was speaking to her, and she felt her eyes moisten. ~ Liz Braswell

You may kill an artist or a thinker, but you cannot acquire his art or his thought. You may put a man do death because he loves his fellow-men, but you will not by so doing acquire the love which made his happiness. ~ Bertrand Russell

Law breaking, graffiti artist, dumb jock that I am, I'm pretty socially conscious. ~ Duff Goldman

The real artist has no pride. Unfortunately he sees that his art has no limits. He feels obscurely how far he is from the goal.
While he is perhaps being admired by others, he mourns the fact that he has not yet reached the point to which his better genius, like a distant sun, ever beckons to him. ~ Ludwig Van Beethoven

I subscribe to the myth that an artist's creativity comes from torment. Once that's fixed, what do you draw on? ~ David Byrne

Painting is an unspoken and largely unrecognized dialogue, where paint speaks silently in masses and colors and the artist responds in moods. ~ James Elkins

Unleash your creativity and the universe will unleash its rewards. ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

I'm guilty of extraordinary naivete, I suppose. But it's a naivete that I really don't want to abandon, not even now. ~ Jock Sturges

To be an artist was to have failure as your constant bedfellow. ~ M. Thomas Gammarino

Working as a solo artist has given me a confidence that I didn't have with Blondie. ~ Debbie Harry

An artist, however modest, is always willing to hear himself preferred to his rivals, and tries only to see that justice is done them. ~ Marcel Proust