Artist Quotes

I think of my peace paintings as one long poem, with each painting being a single stanza.

These small shows were decidedly a success. The exhibitions were not too large to be seen easily. It was not an effort, as larger collections of pictures usually are.

Art, to me, is the interpretation of the impression which nature makes upon the eye and brain.

When I die there is nobody to take my place.

There are some images that I will only use once, and not use again because they don't seem to really hit the nail right on the head, but there are some which are so strong they have to be reduced; sometimes just reusing them makes them stronger.

The dripping... well, if it happens, it happens; it does not take anything from the work. The dripping just proves that you were not trying to control the work, but the work was developing by itself and if it drips, it's a natural part in the evolution of the work.

Shapes that contain no inner components of positive/negative relationships will function better with other shapes of the same nature.

See, when I paint, it is an experience that, at its best, is transcending reality.

People were more interested in the phenomena than the art itself. This, combined with the growing interest in collecting art as an investment and the resultant boom in the art market, made it a difficult time for a young artist to remain sincere without becoming cynical.

My contribution to the world is my ability to draw. I will draw as much as I can for as many people as I can for as long as I can.

I think you have to control the materials to an extent, but it's important to let the materials have a kind of power for themselves; like the natural power of gravity, if you are painting on a wall, it makes the paint trickle and it drips; there is no reason to fight that.

I have been enlightened. I have fallen into poetry and it has swallowed me up.

Drawing is still basically the same as it has been since prehistoric times. It brings together man and the world. It lives through magic.

Art is for everybody.

Red is one of the strongest colors, it's blood, it has a power with the eye. That's why traffic lights are red I guess, and stop signs as well... In fact I use red in all of my paintings.

Nothing is important... so everything is important.

When it is working, you completely go into another place, you're tapping into things that are totally universal, completely beyond your ego and your own self. That's what it's all about.

The public needs art - and it is the responsibility of a 'self-proclaimed artist' to realize that the public needs art, and not to make bourgeois art for a few and ignore the masses.

I don't think art is propaganda; it should be something that liberates the soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. It celebrates humanity instead of manipulating it.

We need society, and we need solitude also, as we need summer and winter, day and night, exercise and rest.

Have you ever observed that we pay much more attention to a wise passage when it is quoted than when we read it in the original author?

It was 100 feet of 16 mm black-and-white film of a car coming to a stop sign, and driving off. I had to decide how to frame and light it. It was magic. There was a sense of mystery.

It took a while for me to grasp that my colleagues believe I have made an impact on the history of cinema.

It is also difficult to articulate the subtleties in cinema, because there aren't words or metaphors which describe many of the emotions you are attempting to evoke.

In aptitude tests, I scored highest in music.

I was very happy sitting alone at a dining room table, writing a script.

I want to tell a story and shape it all the way through to the end.

I think one of the reasons people quit is because they're afraid they won't be able to get better and better; that they have to come to a zenith of some kind.

I suppose I would still be a communicator, maybe a musician.

I saw Tequila Sunrise as a romantic picture with complex, bigger than life characters.