Artist Quotes · Page 357

“What distinguishes art from such undertaker's business is that life's closeness to death is its theme, not its addiction.”

— W.G. Sebald

The arrogance of the artist is a very profound thing, and it fortifies you.

— James A. Michener

He that seeks popularity in art closes the door on his own genius: as he must needs paint for other minds, and…

— Anna Brownell Jameson

Obviously a drawing of a person is not a real person, but a drawing of a line is a real line.

— Sol LeWitt

I just want to work forever. I absolutely love what I'm doing. I learn all the time from all these amazing artists.

— Juno Temple

I want an exhibition one day, so I am doing portraits of rock stars. I paint from pictures in magazines.

— Fearne Cotton

I come from more of a sculptural background so I think of the form before anything else.

— Richard McGuire

I can't understand why most people believe in medicine and don't believe in art, without questioning either.

— Damien Hirst

You'd never look at a Rembrandt and say, 'That's just wood and canvas and paint - how much?!' It's all about how…

— Damien Hirst

I enjoy painting. It's an incredible release of tension, and I feel very excited doing it. I squeeze out some wonderful red…

— Stephen Hough

Every person who is really an artist desires to create inside of himself another, deeper, more interesting life than the one that…

— Constantin Stanislavski

'Painting like a child' isn't a negative for me... it's something only great artists can really achieve. The childlike quality of some…

— Damien Hirst

The artist-muse relationship is romantic and passionate, and complex, and I would imagine that would be a hard relationship to have if…

— Kate Bosworth

I don't think of myself as a comedian, but as an artist, a scientist and chemist who just happens to be funny.…

— Marlon Wayans

I am increasingly unimpressed by works of art that require a college degree to understand. I think that art should be for…

— Patrick deWitt

I think great art comes from being open and creative with somebody, and of course, if feelings start getting involved in that,…

— Sam Palladio

I have improved the way in which I paint. The colours are cleaner and there is more energy in the brush work.

— John Dyer

Paint is a very sensual material. It's lovely to work with and lovely to look at.

— Glenn Ligon

Art is the child of Nature; yes, her darling child, in whom we trace the features of the mother's face, her aspect…

— Beck

If you're a persistent soul artistically, you'll find the truth of your art.

— Ken Jeong

Time and memory are true artists; they remould reality nearer to the heart's desire.

— John Dewey

He is the greatest artist who has embodied, in the sum of his works, the greatest number of the greatest ideas.

— John Ruskin

“A great magician is as divine as God and his stage is as majestic as the paradise.”

— Amit Kalantri

It is the treating of the commonplace with the feeling of the sublime that gives to art its true power.

— Jean-Francois Millet

It's good to be employable, but I hope to show the truth. The paintings seem true because nobody wants me to do…

— Jenny Holzer

I've always been an artist who's about being real and about telling the truth and making music with integrity and talking about…

— Santigold

Doing a life study while drunk and in the process of being seduced is never a formula for quality art.

— Dan Simmons

I think confidence is the most appealing quality in any human being or any artist; that's what really attracts us to people.

— Marilyn Manson

I said to myself, "If the government thinks I'm an artist, I must be one."

— Glenn Ligon

Limited means often constitute the charm and force of primitive painting. Extension, on the contrary, leads the arts to decadence.

— Georges Braque

Artists are supposed to be the ones with imagination. A good part of our job description is to get regular people to…

— Robert Genn

I always wanted to be an artist. I always knew that I wanted to paint, or dance, or sing, or act, or…

— Daniela Vega

I went to art school for four years to learn a very expensive lesson - that there are many other artists who…

— Alex Hirsch

Pure draughtsmen are philosophers and dialecticians. Colourists are epic poets.

— Charles Baudelaire

There's no wrong way of doing art. It's an expression of the individual.

— Swizz Beatz

Look, people are allowed their own opinions and they don't always coincide with yours. As an artist you just have to keep…

— Paul McCartney

Carved with figures strange and sweet, All made out of the carver's brain.

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge

any mystery writer is both magician and moralist ... two species of artist in short supply.

— Sue Grafton

I always think that painters are fighting over the last original brushstroke. To find your own voice is incredibly hard.

— Grayson Perry

Do not try to paint the grandiose thing. Paint the commonplace so that it will be distinguished.

— William Merritt Chase