--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The beauty of reality-based art - art…" description: "\"The beauty of reality-based art - art underwritten by reality hunger - is that it's perfectly situated between life itself and (unattainable) \"life as ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/david-shields-8815_art_the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-unde_540387.jpg" --- # The beauty of reality-based art - art underwritten by… ![“The beauty of reality-based art - art underwritten by reality hunger - is that it's perfectly situated between life itself and (unattainable) "life as art".” quote by David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/david-shields-8815_art_the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-unde_540387.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/david-shields-8815_art_the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-unde_540387.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/david-shields-8815_art_the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-unde_540387.jpg) > “The beauty of reality-based art - art underwritten by reality hunger - is that it's perfectly situated between life itself and (unattainable) "life as art".” [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Reality-based art bridges lived experience and artistic expression, highlighting the tension between authenticity and idealized art. **In simple terms:** Art grounded in reality connects life and artistic vision. Key Takeaway Embrace real experiences in creative work. Themes art reality creativity Mood reflective introspective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - Museum curation - creative workshops - educational curricula - personal artistic practice Key Concepts Authenticity aesthetic philosophy human experience Questions to Reflect On - How does reality influence artistic meaning? - Can art ever fully capture life? A Different Perspective Pure abstraction may overlook the value of lived experience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Beauty Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty-reality-1333169/) [Hunger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hunger/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-art-260298/) [Life itself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-itself/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Reality Hunger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality-hunger-785055/) [Unattainable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unattainable/) [Underwritten Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/underwritten-reality-4520313/) ## Related quotes > [So many of the things I talk about in 'Reality Hunger' seem to be the things that 'The Thing About Life' does - things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/so-many-of-the-things-i-talk-about-in-reality-hunger-seem-to-be-the/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I argued strongly to the American publisher that 'Reality Hunger' should come out first. They thought that 'The Thing About Life' would have more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-argued-strongly-to-the-american-publisher-that-reality-hunger/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [The Australian Gerald Murnane, a genius on the level of Beckett, is known in Australia and Sweden but almost nowhere else. And I loved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teju-cole/the-australian-gerald-murnane-a-genius-on-the-level-of-beckett-is/) [Teju Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teju-cole/) > [Reality Hunger is more than thought-provoking; it's one of the most beautiful books I've read in a long time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/reality-hunger-is-more-than-thought-provoking-it-s-one-of-the-most/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [I've just finished reading Reality Hunger and I'm lit up by it-astonished, intoxicated, ecstatic, overwhelmed. . . . It really is an urgent book:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/i-ve-just-finished-reading-reality-hunger-and-i-m-lit-up-by-it/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [His eyes beheld beauty not in reality but in the printed word. Standing in the waiting-room, he realized that in his life he had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-rankin/his-eyes-beheld-beauty-not-in-reality-but-in-the-printed-word/) [Ian Rankin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-rankin/) > [TThe most effective way to save the threatened and decimated natural world is to cause people to fall in love with it again, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-scott/tthe-most-effective-way-to-save-the-threatened-and-decimated-natural/) [Peter Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-scott/) > [Doubtless almost any intense emotion may open our 'inward eye' to the beauty of reality. Falling in love appears to do it for some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-prescott-montague/doubtless-almost-any-intense-emotion-may-open-our-inward-eye-to-the/) [Margaret Prescott Montague](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-prescott-montague/) > [Let us live for the beauty of our own reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/let-us-live-for-the-beauty-of-our-own-reality/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Live the beauty or your own reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/live-the-beauty-or-your-own-reality/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [Photography is no longer a love affair with the beauty of reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/photography-is-no-longer-a-love-affair-with-the-beauty-of-reality/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“In Japan, a number of time-honored everyday activities (such as making tea, arranging flowers, and writing) have traditionally been deeply examined by their proponents.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-e-davey/in-japan-a-number-of-time-honored-everyday-activities-such-as-making/) [H.E. Davey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-e-davey/) > [I want work that, possessing as thin a membrane as possible between life and art, foregrounds the question of how the writer solves being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-want-work-that-possessing-as-thin-a-membrane-as-possible-between/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [Design should do the same thing in everyday life that art does when encountered: amaze us, scare us or delight us, but certainly open…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-betsky/design-should-do-the-same-thing-in-everyday-life-that-art-does-when/) [Aaron Betsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-betsky/) > [Art is not a pleasure, a solace, or an amusement; art is great matter. Art is an organ of human life, transmitting man's reasonable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/art-is-not-a-pleasure-a-solace-or-an-amusement-art-is-great-matter/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by David Shields > [To be honest, there are parts of 'How Literature Saved My Life' that began as interviews. Someone was telling me that they think the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/to-be-honest-there-are-parts-of-how-literature-saved-my-life-that/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I'm very drawn to the way in which a life lived can be an art of sorts or a failed art, and a life-lived-told…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-m-very-drawn-to-the-way-in-which-a-life-lived-can-be-an-art-of/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [People like Ian McEwan and Jonathan Franzen completely bore me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/people-like-ian-mcewan-and-jonathan-franzen-completely-bore-me/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [You're one of 6.5 billion people now on the planet, and 99.9 percent of your genes are the same as everyone else's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/you-re-one-of-6-5-billion-people-now-on-the-planet-and-99-9-percent/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [We're completely confused about the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction. To me, the moment you compose, you're fictionalising; the moment you remember, you're dreaming.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/we-re-completely-confused-about-the-boundaries-between-fiction-and/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [Your art is most alive and dangerous when you use it against yourself. That's why I pick at my scabs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/your-art-is-most-alive-and-dangerous-when-you-use-it-against-yourself/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [Everything I write, I believe instinctively, is to some extent collage. Meaning, ultimately, is a matter of adjacent data.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/everything-i-write-i-believe-instinctively-is-to-some-extent-collage/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [Swimming is by far the best tonic I've found for my back. I'm not a good swimmer - I do the breaststroke or elementary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/swimming-is-by-far-the-best-tonic-i-ve-found-for-my-back-i-m-not-a/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I've always liked this idea that writing should comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable to create trouble. The value of a work of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-ve-always-liked-this-idea-that-writing-should-comfort-the-afflicted/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [“A great book allows me to leap over that wall: in a deep, significant conversation with another consciousness, I feel human and unalone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/a-great-book-allows-me-to-leap-over-that-wall-in-a-deep-significant/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [The novel is dead. Long live the antinovel, built from scraps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-novel-is-dead-long-live-the-antinovel-built-from-scraps/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I am exhausted by traditional memoir. I am exhausted by the architecture of the conventional novel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-am-exhausted-by-traditional-memoir-i-am-exhausted-by-the/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I couldn't tell a story if my life depended on it. I'm the world's worst joke-teller.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-couldn-t-tell-a-story-if-my-life-depended-on-it-i-m-the-world-s/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [The absence of plot leaves the reader room to think about other things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-absence-of-plot-leaves-the-reader-room-to-think-about-other-things/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) > [I think there are people who are born storytellers. I think of someone like T. C. Boyle or Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I think really,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/i-think-there-are-people-who-are-born-storytellers-i-think-of-someone/) [David Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) [Explore all 77 David Shields quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/) ## 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. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The beauty of reality-based art - art underwritten by reality hunger - is that it's perfectly situated between life itself and (unattainable) \"life as art\".", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Shields" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-underwritten-by-reality-hunger-is/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-underwritten-by-reality-hunger-is/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/david-shields-8815_art_the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-unde_540387.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/david-shields-8815_art_the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-unde_540387.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03b/david-shields-8815_art_the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-unde_540387.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The beauty of reality-based art - art underwritten by reality hunger - is that it's perfectly situated…” — David Shields", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "David Shields", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-shields/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The beauty of reality-based art -...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-underwritten-by-reality-hunger-is/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shields/the-beauty-of-reality-based-art-art-underwritten-by-reality-hunger-is/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```