Quotes

"One has to believe in what one is doing, one has to commit oneself inwardly, in order to do painting. Once obsessed, one ultimately carries it to the point of believing that one might change human beings through painting. But if one lacks this passionate commitment, there is nothing left to do. Then it is best to leave it alone. For basically painting is idiocy.” Gerhardt Richter

"Painting has nothing to do with thinking, because in painting thinking is painting. Thinking is language – record-keeping – and has to take place before and after. Einstein did not think when he was calculating: he calculated – producing the next equation in reaction to the one that went before – just as in painting one form is a response to another, and so on.” Gerhardt Richter

Remembering Ellsworth Kelly

It’s been said that stubbornly pragmatic Americans want five things from a work of art: 1) that it be representational; 2) that it take a special talent to create; 3) that it require a long time to make; 4) that it be made of good materials; and 5) that its subject matter never be repulsive or depressing. Ellsworth Kelly, who died at his home in Spencertown, N.Y., on Sunday at the age of 92, gave us all five, and in grandly beautiful fashion. I love his bold colors and hard edges.

To be an artist is not a matter of making paintings or objects at all. What we are really dealing with is our state of consciousness and the shape of our perception…The act of art is a tool for extended consciousness.— –Robert Irwin

When everything goes right a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprise!— (Alexander Calder)

I like the idea of how it’s possible to have something so close and yet so far, so familiar and unknown.— Liliana Porter on Jacometto’s Portrait of a Young Man-MET review

Nothing that I can do will change the structure of the universe. But maybe, by raising my voice I can help the greatest of all causes - goodwill among men and peace on earth.— Albert Einstein

“The artist, faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an offensive state.” ~— JFK

Someone once asked the artist Georgia O'Keeffe why her paintings magnified the size of small objects–like the petals on a flower–making them appear larger than life, and reduced the size of large objects–like mountains–making them smaller than life. “Everyone sees the big things,” she said. "But these smaller things are so beautiful and people might not notice them if I didn’t emphasize them.“ That’s the way it is with gratitude and letting go. It’s easy to see the problems in our lives. They’re like mountains. But sometimes we overlook the smaller things; we don’t notice how truly beautiful they are.— Georgia O’Keefe

Is it true that anything can be changed, seen in any light, and is not destroyed by the action of shadows? Then you won’t mind when I interrupt you while you’re working?— John Cage

He who has a *why* to live can bear almost any *how*.— Friedrich Nietzsche

The beginning of things arise by talent, while the ends are reached by discipline. And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” — Abraham Lincoln

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” — Dr. Seuss

“Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” — James Dean

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” — Maria Robinson

“It is not length of life, but depth of life.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by every moment that takes your breath away.” – Anonymous

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” — Randy Pausch

“Why are you trying so hard to fit in, when you’re born to stand out.” — Oliver James

“You live but once; you might as well be amusing.” — Coco Chanel

The most important for us is to realize what is possible
and what is not.— Albert Oehlen

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance
— Aristo

“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”- Berthold Auerbach

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart. Where beams of imagination play, memory’s soft figures melt away. To find what you seek in the road of life, you take many paths. The creative process for me is one that is both filled with serendipity and emotion. The majority of my abstract works are inspired by the world around me and then the music I listen to. The beat, the lyrics, the emotions I feel from the music I am listening to while I am creating. For me, painting is like being on a path thru forgotten woods; ups and downs, highs and lows, twists and turns. Creating for me, like life, is constant movement, constant change. The creation process is cathartic, allowing my emotions to spill out onto my canvas with color and form. It is a joy and a release.— Cheryl Johnson

“Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? …people who try to explain pictures are usually barking up the wrong tree.”— Pablo Picasso

“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”― Plato

"People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves"
Salma Hayek

“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”― Plato

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