--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: For an artist, to be normal is a disaster" description: "\"For an artist, to be normal is a disaster\" — Jonas Mekas" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfa/jonas-mekas-12648_art_for-an-artist-to-be-normal-is-a-disaster_2401241.png" --- # For an artist, to be normal is a disaster ![“For an artist, to be normal is a disaster” quote by Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfa/jonas-mekas-12648_art_for-an-artist-to-be-normal-is-a-disaster_2401241.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfa/jonas-mekas-12648_art_for-an-artist-to-be-normal-is-a-disaster_2401241.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfa/jonas-mekas-12648_art_for-an-artist-to-be-normal-is-a-disaster_2401241.png) > “For an artist, to be normal is a disaster” [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Normalcy stifles artistic innovation; embracing eccentricity fuels creativity. **In simple terms:** Normalcy hinders art. Key Takeaway Celebrate uniqueness. Themes art creativity nonconformity Mood defiant inspirational Type philosophical creative When to use this quote - artistic practice - personal expression - innovation Key Concepts aesthetic theory psychology of creativity Questions to Reflect On - How does being 'normal' limit art? - What benefits arise from embracing oddity? A Different Perspective May romanticize dysfunction. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Disaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disaster/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) ## Related quotes > [“Regardless of its quality, no one wants to destroy what they created after so many sleepless nights. This is what distinguishes an artist from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhaidev/regardless-of-its-quality-no-one-wants-to-destroy-what-they-created/) [Abhaidev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhaidev/) > [No artist is normal. Who happen to be normal cannot be an artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irving-stone/no-artist-is-normal-who-happen-to-be-normal-cannot-be-an-artist/) [Irving Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irving-stone/) > [“But then, no artist is normal; if he were, he wouldn’t be an artist.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rory-noland/but-then-no-artist-is-normal-if-he-were-he-wouldn-t-be-an-artist/) [Rory Noland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rory-noland/) > [“In my opinion, neither way is easy. If I'm going to struggle between artist and a normal 9 to 5 job. I might as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erin-mcmillan/in-my-opinion-neither-way-is-easy-if-i-m-going-to-struggle-between/) Erin McMillan > [I think part of the reason I'm attracted to Foster is because he's such a mess. I mean, the people I have loved in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augusten-burroughs/i-think-part-of-the-reason-i-m-attracted-to-foster-is-because-he-s/) [Augusten Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augusten-burroughs/) > [I am a horrible visual artist. I can't fix a car, sew, knit, cook, etc. Statistically, there is more I don't do than do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-brownstein/i-am-a-horrible-visual-artist-i-can-t-fix-a-car-sew-knit-cook-etc/) [Carrie Brownstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-brownstein/) > [I am not the avant-garde. I am the artist who comes after the advancing guard. I am more concerned with continuity of ideas and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-oliveira/i-am-not-the-avant-garde-i-am-the-artist-who-comes-after-the/) [Nathan Oliveira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-oliveira/) > [I don't believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-arkin/i-don-t-believe-in-competitions-between-artists-this-is-insane-who/) [Alan Arkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-arkin/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [“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 > [“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/) > [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/) > [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/) ## More by Jonas Mekas > [I live, therefore I make films. I make film, therefore I live. Life. Movement. I make home movies, therefore I live. I live, therefore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-live-therefore-i-make-films-i-make-film-therefore-i-live-life/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [I'm not so much in the future as always in the present. The future always takes care of itself. What I do now with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-m-not-so-much-in-the-future-as-always-in-the-present-the-future/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [“pasidaryt mažesniam reikia daug laiko.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/pasidaryt-ma-esniam-reikia-daug-laiko/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [To me, cinema is cinema. Cinema is one big tree with many branches. The same as literature. In literature, you don't just say, 'Oh,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/to-me-cinema-is-cinema-cinema-is-one-big-tree-with-many-branches-the/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [The nature of the video camera really makes you focus on the present. Since I have always been a diarist filmmaker, not one who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/the-nature-of-the-video-camera-really-makes-you-focus-on-the-present/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [In narrative cinema, a certain terminology has already been established: 'film noir,' 'Western,' even 'Spaghetti Western.' When we say 'film noir' we know what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/in-narrative-cinema-a-certain-terminology-has-already-been/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [An adventurer can always return home; an exile cannot. So I decided that my home would be culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/an-adventurer-can-always-return-home-an-exile-cannot-so-i-decided/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [Just as in writing, there are novelistic and sort of pedestrian ways of telling a story, to write a postcard with your little pocket…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/just-as-in-writing-there-are-novelistic-and-sort-of-pedestrian-ways/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [I myself saw the great works of Western civilization for the first time in my high school in Lithuania in bad black-and-white reproductions on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-myself-saw-the-great-works-of-western-civilization-for-the-first/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [Once you change the technology - from a film camera to a video camera, or from an 8-mm camera to 16 mm - you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/once-you-change-the-technology-from-a-film-camera-to-a-video-camera/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [I'm working in a form of cinema that can be described, and has been described, as a diaristic form of cinema. In other words,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-m-working-in-a-form-of-cinema-that-can-be-described-and-has-been/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [I'm a filmmaker, but my working procedures are different. All my basic structuring is done during the filming. You know, how long I keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-m-a-filmmaker-but-my-working-procedures-are-different-all-my-basic/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [When I came to New York in 1949, there was already an entire fresh avant-garde film movement blooming in New York and California. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/when-i-came-to-new-york-in-1949-there-was-already-an-entire-fresh/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [I make home movies-therefore I live. I live-therefore I make home movies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/i-make-home-movies-therefore-i-live-i-live-therefore-i-make-home/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) > [“The hygienic slickness of our contemporary films, be they from Hollywood, Paris, or Sweden, is a contagious sickness that seems to be catching through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/the-hygienic-slickness-of-our-contemporary-films-be-they-from/) [Jonas Mekas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) [Explore all 46 Jonas Mekas quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/) ## 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 > [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": "For an artist, to be normal is a disaster", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jonas Mekas" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/for-an-artist-to-be-normal-is-a-disaster/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/for-an-artist-to-be-normal-is-a-disaster/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfa/jonas-mekas-12648_art_for-an-artist-to-be-normal-is-a-disaster_2401241.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfa/jonas-mekas-12648_art_for-an-artist-to-be-normal-is-a-disaster_2401241.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfa/jonas-mekas-12648_art_for-an-artist-to-be-normal-is-a-disaster_2401241.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For an artist, to be normal is a disaster” — Jonas Mekas", "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": "Jonas Mekas", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-mekas/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "For an artist, to be normal...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/for-an-artist-to-be-normal-is-a-disaster/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-mekas/for-an-artist-to-be-normal-is-a-disaster/#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 } } ] } ```