Artist Quotes - Page 124

The number of contemporary artists who appeal to me is infinitesimal.

I think that this stage in my life is really, for a lot of reasons, pretty incredible. Being a solo artist and trying to take these bold steps on my own.

You can't trust an artist that just makes good records.

I never really followed the traditional route when it comes to what people probably expect as a solo artist goes, but that's just me. It's my own creative output and it's my expression.

You can't really judge an actor's abilities by their career, because the business is going to pigeonhole people into whatever turns a profit, and no artist is less in charge of how their work is presented than an actor, the appeal of Vince was that within a great naturalism, he can convey fierce intelligence, complex emotion, and a real warmth married to a real edge, strength and vulnerability and danger and humor. There are essential contradictions at work that makes him fascinating to watch.

Artists have to show us what is not going well within the person and within the society, not try to cover it up.

Nature is the best and really the only real vocabulary that an artist can legitimately work with.

I believe the future will reflect different body types, ethnicities, cultures and sexual orientations. I've been working with a lot of young artists who really project an androgynous and inclusive approach to the world. I'm very inspired by that.

The artists always reflect the times, so there's a lot to think about, a lot of unknowns, a lot of things that are describable. This is the closest I've seen to the kind of ambience that made the '60s happen. It's not about the artist having a responsibility to do anything. They have to be artists and express themselves and everything will work out fine.

You just have to be adventurous and that's the way I like to work. I think that's the role of the artist, to do something difficult, doing it first for himself. That's my definition of sincerity.

I don't have a normal job, so I really appreciate having friends who are writers and artists. It's fun to have a group of people you can call in the middle of the day to go for a hike.

I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.

Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or, eh, a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance, or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk but not be job-locked because a child has asthma or someone in the family is bipolar. You name it. Any condition is job-blocking.

I wish I could balance life as an artist and a mother, but sometimes when I am doing live concerts, I have to ask people to help me in my other role.

As a person, I believe that I am sensitive, which helped me be the artist I am.

In this tour around the world I was not interested in contemporary buildings because I had seen contemporary buildings actually until they came out of my ears in a sense.

Being the gateway to a large city, St. Louis, I had felt from the very beginning that somehow this building should symbolize this sense of being a gateway.

And I like the idea of change. Because I don't see why we should hang a painting on the wall and then just not think of it anymore because it's there like a piece of furniture.

I just want to make one really good movie a year. And when I die, to know I was honest as an artist.

My graffiti really comes more from a May '68, sort of Situationist vibe than the hip-hop world. I think a real graffiti artist would find me a poser.

Art distills sensations and embodies it with enhanced meaning.

The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image.

The paradox of the culture wars is that they have made celebrities out of some artists who would otherwise vanish. Censorship has become a growth industry. This may be the best argument, in the end, for unfettered freedom of expression.

I believe that every photographer, every artist, should choose materials and equipment based on their own vision. I don't believe that non-digital is necessarily better than digital, or the reverse for that matter. They are just different, and it is my preference and choice to remain with the traditional silver process, at least for the time being.

People expect me to be dark and gloomy, then write that I'm a jolly chap, and after all, that is what I am. I think it's a case of an absolute romantic naivety that there should be a parallel between the work and the artist.