Artists Quotes

Making art requires a degree of intentionality. All works of art require a contemplative individual drawing from their bank of knowledge and immersion into the realms of memory and imagination in order to make an outward, communicative expression. Only human beings can draw upon the dialectical tension between memory and imagination to create artistic renderings.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

We are told that in translation there is no such thing as equivalence. Many times the translator reaches a fork in the translating road where they must make a choice in the interpretation of a word. And each time they make one of these choices, they are taken further from the truth. But what we aren’t told is that this isn’t a shortcoming of translation; it’s a shortcoming of language itself. As soon as we try to put reality into words, we limit it. Words are not reality, they are the cause of reality, and thus reality is always more. Writers aren't alchemists who transmute words into the aurous essence of the human experience. No, they are glassmakers. They create a work of art that enables us to see inside to help us understand. And if they are really good, we can see our own reflections staring back at us.

~ Kamand Kojouri

Some art are meant to cut shortstretching them unnecessary makes it dull.

~ Yarro Rai

My mother supported my every artistic ambition. I don't wonder why. I'm beyond grateful. But when I think of my grandparents barely surviving the war, I feel so pampered. What an indulgence to be an artist. So this is it, this is all I can offer, to the living and to the dead.

~ Leela Corman

If you haven't proclaimed it in your own life, do it now. Say, I am an artist.

~ Teresa R. Funke

An artist who desires very little and achieves it has failed in life.

~ Paulo Coelho

The biographies of great artists make it abundantly clear that the creative urge is often so imperious that it battens on their humanity and yokes everything to the service of the work, even at the cost of health and ordinary human happiness. The unborn work in the psyche of the artist is a force of nature that achieves its end either with tyrannical might or with the subtle cunning of nature herself, quite regardless of the personal fate of the man who is its vehicle. The creative urge lives and grows in him like a tree in the earth from which it draws its nourishment.

~ C.g. Jung

By encouraging the critic in themselves (the hater) they have killed the artist (the lover).

~ Brenda Ueland

The human being now simply can't close his elected garment about himself. Obligations to one's fellows perhaps prevent full buttoning by artists.

~ Saul Bellow

And remember whatever discipline you're in, whether you're a musician or a photographer, fine artist or a cartoonist, writer, a dancer, a singer, a designer... whatever you do, you have a thing that's unique. You have the ability to make art.

~ Neil Gaiman

All my images are self-portraits, even when I'm not in them.

~ Nuno Roque

The dictators, commanders or emperors who want to conquer the world soon realize that the world has already been conquered by the artists and their arts!

~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

Pop is about speaking everybody's language. The imagery and iconography we instantly recognize. When you can rely on things that the public already knows, you're dealing with Pop.

~ Nuno Roque

Art translates human souls. Each passing eon’s public display of sophisticated hieroglyphics cast a unique depiction upon the rudimentary art of survival.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

As regards the artists themselves, most of them gave up their freedom quite lightly, placing their art at the service of someone or something. As a rule, their concerns and their ambitions are those of any old careerist. I thus acquired a total distrust of art and artists, whether they were officially recognised or were endeavouring to become so, and I felt that I had nothing in common with this guild. I had a point of reference which held me elsewhere, namely that magic within art which I had encountered as a child.

~ René Magritte

Artists are often repulsed by the anti-human values and commercialized culture of their society, but they are also aware that they have a unique status within it that allows them to express their creative individuality - as long as it sells. They fear that socialism would strip them of that status and reduce them to the level of mere workers, because they are unable to imagine a world that values and encourages the artistic expression of all of its members.

~ Danny Katch

Artists, as a rule, understand nothing about business, or, for some reason or other, they aren’t allowed to understand anything about it.

~ Robert Walser

Behind every creative act is a statement of love. Every artistic creation is a statement of gratitude.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

Any person whom seeks to live a historical existence must devote their efforts to learning about the world, care about people and nature, and seek to express their thoughts in the artistic methodology most appropriate to their particular talent. A person cannot fake self-awareness or imitate an artistic nature. A person must honestly earn a heightened level of conscious awareness.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

Great artists need great clients.

~ I.m. Pei

Generations cometh and generations passeth, but the earth abideth forever. While successive generations live and die, and all things change, man can never rest until death claims us. I choose to use my time alone to contemplate human existence, probe the human condition, and trace what it means to be one man in our modern world. There can be no profit from my labor, no lasting yield realized from this laborious and painful sojourn. We will leave everything behind. The earth shall dissolve all of our acquisitions and obliterate all traces of our petty affections. Passage of time shall alter, not annihilate the products of any artistic labors. The substance of our artistic enterprises shall continue forward in a renewed and redefined state.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

Creating art is paradoxical because an artist seeks to express truth by penetrating and destroying illusions. Art is always the outpouring of a mind striving to achieve the impossible reconciliation of all the fragmented shards that make people human: frivolous amusements, idle moments, feelings of tenderness and pain, stored memories, future expectations, and unquenchable thirst to experience love and witness beauty.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

She puts away four small plastic cups of red wine and then stares at a painting of a topless girl with a large silver sword for a half hour and then she begins to think: You call this art? This isn’t art! This is a joke! All of you are a joke! Fuck you and fuck Jeff Koons and the rest of those ‘80s art-star wannabes. Where’s the art that makes people weep? Where’s the art that makes people want to go to church? None of this is the least bit interesting. All of this stuff, all of this is so self-aware. It’s for ironic art snobs. I want something brilliant. I want something stunning. I want something that makes me look in wonder…

~ Joe Meno

Sometimes people can be negative, especially about my confidence. I trust myself, I refuse to obey, and I noticed there is a need to punish me for it. But haters are important because they show you you're doing something right. I'm scared of unanimity, artists who everybody likes. When you speak your mind and you're loud, you will attract negativity. But I have thick skin, I think the fact that I was severely bullied in my childhood helped me build strength and believe in my artistic vision. I deal with rejection very well. I have a lifelong vision and an unbreakable spirit.

~ Nuno Roque

I'm like a circus standing on two legs.

~ Nuno Roque

I think we live in a time where artists are very tidy and afraid of what others might think. They hesitate in expressing their views and opinions. So being original is rare. For me, it's about living the life you create for yourself, to create your kingdom. I think we should work on being our unique selves and becoming our greatest versions. I like to remind people to take the power to live their life the way they wish.

~ Nuno Roque

I had artistic classical training, and when you learn the classics for so many years, you might gain audacity, power and confidence to subvert everything. I am like the originals buffoons. I love the rules because I can break them.

~ Nuno Roque

Some artists benefit less from being interviewed than they do from being left alone.

~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

France, stop throwing awards at me! I have so many already, give them to people who need them.

~ Nuno Roque

A red nose is the clown's mask and my moustache is mine.

~ Nuno Roque

Realism is criminal.

~ Nuno Roque

I preferred an artist who transformed his time, not mirrored it.

~ Patti Smith

Art lovers ought to be crazy.That's how they see the fun side of everything.

~ Saru Singhal

A great artist is conscious of the talent and the power he possesses, otherwise he would not see his faults, and so would not be able to improve.

~ H.s. Ede

An artist is someone who, needing nothing and no one, wants everything and everyone.

~ Neel Burton

Great work is not created for everyone. If it were, it would be average work.

~ Seth Godin

Feet on the ground, head in the clouds. That's how giants walk.

~ Andrea Pomelli

I love the smell of pastels...that breaths life into my soul.

~ Ama H. Vanniarachchy

My father said that artists see the world differently than normal people. I see a tree where you mights see a collection of lines, shapes, and shadows.

~ Stacey H. Lee

Good talent needs a showcase to prove its worth.There are many cases across the world across arts where good and talented artists have disappeared bcz no one saw them.

~ Chetan Katigar