Scott Kahn Quotes

#1. I don't approve of what Wall Street and the wealthy have done to this country, but they are the very ones buying my paintings.

Scott Kahn

#2. The conceptual and politically-driven art so popular and considered to be the forefront of contemporary art today is limited by its topicality and will lose its 'punch' when topical concerns move on to other interests.

Scott Kahn

#3. Selling is not a static activity.

Scott Kahn

#4. The art which speaks to a universal audience concerns itself with the 'big' questions of life and death, and delivers its message with unrelenting and powerful emotion.

Scott Kahn

#5. Art springs from life but it doesn't mean we have to be tyrannized by it.

Scott Kahn

#6. Let us not forget that group of self-taught, outsider artists who never stepped foot in any classroom and cared less about even exhibiting, and yet ended up with an audience of avid admirers.

Scott Kahn

#7. I don't think it's wise to manufacture a painting, just for the sake of working ... if the impulse isn't truly there, the painting will lack power.

Scott Kahn

#8. The voice will always be heard, even if the song is very different.

Scott Kahn

#9. No amount of virtuosic skill and choice of subject matter can be a substitute for depth and poetry.

Scott Kahn

#10. Self-deceit is a most damaging trait. The remedy, for an artist, is to paint a self-portrait!

Scott Kahn

#11. The art business is a rarified business and appeals to an audience capable of spending money on a luxury. Too often the atmosphere in a gallery borders on snobbishness.

Scott Kahn

#12. What the artist should be asking is, Am I being honest? Am I being myself? Am I searching for the truth? Am I reporting my experience of life and the world as I see and experience it?

Scott Kahn

#13. Becoming an artist cannot be taught. A degree and diligence is not a guarantee that one can become an 'artist.

Scott Kahn

#14. Color, like everything else concerning visual expression, usually boils down to a gift, an innate sensibility and sensitivity. Ultimately, artists develop their own palette and color sense.

Scott Kahn

#15. I paint with a language I can call my own ... it takes a ruthless honesty with oneself. If one admires or is influenced by anyone else, one is not being true to oneself.

Scott Kahn

#16. Preconceived notions and rules are antithetical to the creative process.

Scott Kahn