“The greater the decrease in the social significance of an art form, the sharper the distinction between criticism and enjoyment by the public. The conventional is uncritically enjoyed, and the truly new is criticized with aversion.”
Art refuses to sit still or be easily defined, and the best quotes about it do the same. Here you will find painters, sculptors, musicians, and writers wrestling with creativity, beauty, meaning, and the maddening gap between what you imagine and what you manage to make.
“The person who knows one thing and does it better than anyone else, even if it only be the art of raising lentils, receives the crown he merits. If he raises all his energy to that end, he is a benefactor of mankind and its rewarded as such.”
“The greater the decrease in the social significance of an art form, the sharper the distinction between criticism and enjoyment by the public. The conventional is uncritically enjoyed, and the truly new is criticized with aversion.”
“Art for art's sake is a philosophy of the well-fed.”
“When money and hype recede from the art world, one thing I won't miss will be what curator Francesco Bonami calls the 'Eventocracy.' All this flashy 'art-fair art' and those highly produced space-eating spectacles and installations wow you for a minute until you move on to the next adrenaline event.”
“I think of art as the highest level of creativity. To me, it is one of the greatest sources of enjoyment.”
“In its most limited sense, modern, art would seem to concern itself only with the technical innovations of the period.”
“In art the best is good enough.”
“I think art education, especially in this country, which government pretty much ignores, is so important for young people.”
“Everything a writer learns about the art or craft of fiction takes just a little away from his need or desire to write at all. In the end he knows all the tricks and has nothing to say.”
“Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.”
“Evil is done without effort, naturally, it is the working of fate good is always the product of an art.”
“There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face.”
“Originality is the art of concealing your source.”
“Art is changing. Again. Here. Now. Opportunities to witness this are rare, so attend and observe.”
“I think people should be given a test much like driver's tests as to whether they're capable of being parents! It's an art form. I talk a lot. And I think a lot. And I draw a lot. But never in a million years would I have been a parent. That's just work that's too hard.”
“Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn't exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again. As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world you are writing science fiction. It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible.”