Artist Quotes by John Currin

There is a fascination with violence and power in all modernism, and I sort of saw classic modernism as being more similar to Wyndham…

— John Currin

A lot of times maturing as an artist is just starting to do the things you like to do.

— John Currin

I think a big problem with art school is that it makes people feel like they have to be interested in everything that's of…

— John Currin

There is, literally and figuratively, not a gold standard. That's almost as big a problem in art as in the financial world. How do…

— John Currin

Instead of last man standing, it'll be last man smiling.

— John Currin

There's nothing worse than people talking about theories and humor.

— John Currin

Your style is who you are when you’re not trying to be clever or better than you actually are.

— John Currin

I think a lot of people take a scholarly approach where they feel like you're supposed to study things that depress you.

— John Currin

When I went to college, and I went to art school, I started to realize that Warhol was cool and that pop art was…

— John Currin

Painting is like being a lawyer and attacking a corporation.

— John Currin

I suppose the good artists, the righteous artists, somehow manage to be exuberant, and the embarrassed artist has this idea that everybody has to…

— John Currin

I've always found paintings of nudes depressing because they can't compete with photographs. The grainiest photograph of some girl, a blurry Polaroid - you'd…

— John Currin

There is no misery in art. All art is about saying yes, and all art is about its own making.

— John Currin

I think what I do is find a cliché and try to believe in it, try to get to where I don't laugh at…

— John Currin

You have to like everything that you're painting. Maybe on a narrative level it seems harsh... but I like everything in all my paintings.…

— John Currin