--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Fairfield Porter who has been my model…" description: "\"Fairfield Porter who has been my model for art writing all along, said that if the most interesting thing about a work of art is its content, it's prob..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f5/david-salle-11131_art_fairfield-porter-who-has-been-my-model-f_1865223.jpg" --- # Fairfield Porter who has been my model for art writing all… ![“Fairfield Porter who has been my model for art writing all along, said that if the most interesting thing about a work of art is its content, it's probably a failure. I think it's true that if you find yourself thinking about the meaning in an author's message, it's probably not very interesting…” quote by David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f5/david-salle-11131_art_fairfield-porter-who-has-been-my-model-f_1865223.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f5/david-salle-11131_art_fairfield-porter-who-has-been-my-model-f_1865223.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f5/david-salle-11131_art_fairfield-porter-who-has-been-my-model-f_1865223.jpg) > “Fairfield Porter who has been my model for art writing all along, said that if the most interesting thing about a work of art is its content, it's probably a failure. I think it's true that if you find yourself thinking about the meaning in an author's message, it's probably not very interesting as art. Obviously, this is a tough concept, because if you withdraw intention.” [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Focusing on content over form often signals a lack of artistic depth; true art engages through form and experience rather than explicit meaning. **In simple terms:** Art that tells a story directly may be less compelling. Key Takeaway Prioritize form and experience over explicit meaning. Themes art criticism form vs content interpretation Mood contemplative critical Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - gallery reviews - creative writing workshops - art education - curatorial practice Key Concepts Aesthetic theory intentionality Questions to Reflect On - How does form shape your perception of meaning? - When does explicit meaning enhance art? A Different Perspective If the work is too clear, it may lose mystery and intrigue. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art Content](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-content-2538282/) [Art is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-is/) [Art Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-writing/) [Author Message](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/author-message-2538283/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Finding yourself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/finding-yourself/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Intention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intention/) [Interesting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interesting/) [Most interesting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/most-interesting/) [Said Interesting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/said-interesting-941422/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Tough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tough/) [Very interesting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/very-interesting/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Writing Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-said-1593273/) ## Related quotes > [A woman called me interesting once, and it kind of blew my mind. She said, 'You're one of the most interesting people I've ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zac-efron/a-woman-called-me-interesting-once-and-it-kind-of-blew-my-mind-she/) [Zac Efron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zac-efron/) > [As a writer, I never want to have an author's message. I really want to present a situation with it in as multifaceted a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-schwartz/as-a-writer-i-never-want-to-have-an-author-s-message-i-really-want-to/) [Stephen Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-schwartz/) > [I don't believe that you can put content into art. The content is in yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beverly-pepper/i-don-t-believe-that-you-can-put-content-into-art-the-content-is-in/) [Beverly Pepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beverly-pepper/) > [I do believe architecture, and all art, should be content-driven. It should have something to say beyond the sensational.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-jencks/i-do-believe-architecture-and-all-art-should-be-content-driven-it/) [Charles Jencks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-jencks/) > [Nature is inside art as its content, not outside as its model.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/nature-is-inside-art-as-its-content-not-outside-as-its-model/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Classical art stands for form; romantic art for content.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-g-collingwood/classical-art-stands-for-form-romantic-art-for-content/) [Robin G. Collingwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-g-collingwood/) > [Art goes on in your head. If you said something interesting, that might be a title for a work of art and I'd write…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damien-hirst/art-goes-on-in-your-head-if-you-said-something-interesting-that-might/) [Damien Hirst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damien-hirst/) > [Well, that’s interesting,” I said. “What’s interesting?” Jack called from the other room. “Something is interesting?” Lend shouted. “No! Nothing!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiersten-white/well-that-s-interesting-i-said-what-s-interesting-jack-called-from/) [Kiersten White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiersten-white/) > [I was in school studying civil engineering. A guy approached me on the street and said that I had a interesting look-very exotic. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thuy-trang/i-was-in-school-studying-civil-engineering-a-guy-approached-me-on-the/) [Thuy Trang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thuy-trang/) > [When I was collecting material for a political gossip column, and someone said something interesting, I would wait for them to add, 'and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-hoggart/when-i-was-collecting-material-for-a-political-gossip-column-and/) [Simon Hoggart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-hoggart/) > [My first review for the TV movie The Bionic Showdown said I was as interesting as a bus ride.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandra-bullock/my-first-review-for-the-tv-movie-the-bionic-showdown-said-i-was-as/) [Sandra Bullock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandra-bullock/) > […he said it was interesting. He used the word 'textured'. He said 'smooth' is boring but 'textured' was interesting, and the scar meant that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeannette-walls/he-said-it-was-interesting-he-used-the-word-textured-he-said-smooth/) [Jeannette Walls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeannette-walls/) > [Paris Hilton said something interesting to me once: she said, 'I just tell everyone what they want to hear, and I do what I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-rex/paris-hilton-said-something-interesting-to-me-once-she-said-i-just/) [Simon Rex](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-rex/) > [“The least interesting aspect of good conversation is what is actually said. What is more interesting is all the deliberations and emotions that take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tor-norretranders/the-least-interesting-aspect-of-good-conversation-is-what-is-actually/) [Tor Norretranders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tor-norretranders/) > [“Writing, when all is said and done, is an attempt to understand one's own circumstance and to clarify the confusion of existence, including insecurities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-allende/writing-when-all-is-said-and-done-is-an-attempt-to-understand-one-s/) [Isabel Allende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-allende/) ## More by David Salle > [What most paintings do is give you a path for your eye to move around. The painting actually tells your eye, go here, now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/what-most-paintings-do-is-give-you-a-path-for-your-eye-to-move-around/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [I've always read, I've always admired writers and was lucky really to meet some extraordinary ones and become friends. Certain times you just like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/i-ve-always-read-i-ve-always-admired-writers-and-was-lucky-really-to/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [Truth is, I didn't know what the hell I was doing when I got out of Cal Arts. 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There's a way of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/people-are-still-making-paintings-people-are-still-enjoying-paintings/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [I feel like all the American artists are aesthetically not very interesting and mired in a complaining relationship to its own culture, whereas the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/i-feel-like-all-the-american-artists-are-aesthetically-not-very/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [I think people have to be given - or take - the permission to say that something is nothing. Just because it's in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/i-think-people-have-to-be-given-or-take-the-permission-to-say-that/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [There are so many different ways to talk and think about art. We just spoke about when attitude becomes form. But when I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/there-are-so-many-different-ways-to-talk-and-think-about-art-we-just/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [I started when I was nine. Really, everything I know about color theory, composition, drawing, and painting, I learned when I was a kid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/i-started-when-i-was-nine-really-everything-i-know-about-color-theory/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [If you go to a concert, you will notice, is it loud? Is the music fast? Is it predominately strings or brass? There are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/if-you-go-to-a-concert-you-will-notice-is-it-loud-is-the-music-fast/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [I was actually dumbfounded by how some artists talked to each other. For example, it was a normal night at a bar, nothing very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/i-was-actually-dumbfounded-by-how-some-artists-talked-to-each-other/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [What if everything in a museum is crap? It's entirely possible; it's not the end of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/what-if-everything-in-a-museum-is-crap-it-s-entirely-possible-it-s/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [“good art illustrates anything at all, it’s likely to be a story you didn’t even know needed telling.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/good-art-illustrates-anything-at-all-it-s-likely-to-be-a-story-you/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) > [“How a painter treats this edge is the real subject of realist painting; how the brush behaves in the vicinity of an edge gives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-salle/how-a-painter-treats-this-edge-is-the-real-subject-of-realist/) [David Salle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) [Explore all 61 David Salle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-salle/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) [Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/) > [The house has to serve comfort. 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