Top 100 Art Can Be Quotes
#1. Defining art is huge; I feel like it's such a subjective thing. It's more like what's not art. You know what I mean? I think there can be an art in the way people live their lives, and art can be a gift someone gives to somebody.
Kathleen Hanna
#2. Art can be engaged in the world without being specifically politically engaged.
Laurie Anderson
#3. But then people don't read literature in order to understand; they read it because they want to re-live the feelings and sensations which they found exciting in the past. Art can be a lot of things; but in actual practice, most of it is merely the mental equivalent of alcohol and cantharides.
Aldous Huxley
#4. But what does interest me is the notion that if you do a lot of work it means there's a potential for other people to understand that a lot of things are possible with a sustained effort and that the broadening of experiences is possible and I think that's all art can be.
Richard Serra
#5. Just as no significant work of art can be created without the element of irrationality that is in fact the artist's talent." p.179
"He wondered if there was a greater distance than the one between two people in the same bed pretending to sleep." p.213
Henning Mankell
#6. My position is that serious and good art has always existed to help, to serve, humanity. Not to indict. I don't see how art can be called art if its purpose is to frustrate humanity.
Chinua Achebe
#8. I believe that every human being should try to do good for someone else. There are so many different ways to do it. My art can be an instrument for helping people ... What a good feeling - that I can do that with my art ...
Romero Britto
#9. Art has often been and continues to be considered transcendent. I see this as misguided and, in fact, a way of subverting the powerful voice art can be in global discussions about politics, economics, society, culture, religion and international relations.
Aman Mojadidi
#10. In the mid- to late '60s to the mid-'70s, when I was a student, there was a major change in the thinking about what art can be and how art is made.
Bill Viola
#11. These days, newish art can be priced between $10,000 and $25,000. When I tell artists that a new painting by a newish artist should go for around $1,200, they look at me like I'm a flesh-eating virus.
Jerry Saltz
#12. I think we're much smarter than we were. Everybody knows that abstract art can be art, and most people know that they may not like it, even if they understand there's another purpose to it.
Roy Lichtenstein
#13. I suspect you've noticed that making art can be lonely.
Jenny Holzer
#14. Fashion is what seems beautiful now but looks ugly later; art can be ugly at first but it becomes beautiful later.
Mona Simpson
#15. Art can be defined as beauty able to transcend the circumstances of its making.
Jane Hirshfield
#16. I am quite incapable of understanding how any work of art can be criticized from a moral standpoint. The sphere of art and the sphere of ethics are absolutely distinct and separate.
Oscar Wilde
#17. I used to believe my art had to be about the things that brought me joy and gave me hope. But I learned that art can be found in all of life, even in pain.
Valentine, while in Italy (pg 267)
Adriana Trigiani
#18. No art can be grafted with success on another art. For though they all profess the same origin, and to proceed from the same stock, yet each has its own peculiar modes both of imitating nature and of deviating from it ... The deviation, more especially, will not bear transplantation to another soil.
Joshua Reynolds
#19. Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest.
Eddie Vedder
#20. Never can the innate power of a work be hidden or locked away. A work of art can be forgotten by time; it can be forbidden and rejected but the elemental will always prevail over the ephemeral.
Stefan Zweig
#21. No art can be noble which is incapable of expressing thought, and no art is capable of expressing thought which does not change.
John Ruskin
#22. Music is an art form too. Sometimes other forms of art can be inspiring to the musician.
Ken Hill
#23. I love art, my mother is a painter, I majored in art history at Wellesley, and as I was having my second child I was thinking, what am I going to do, I have to do something to keep myself sane, and I began to ask myself, what are the most horrific circumstances under which art can be created?
Alyson Richman
#24. Performance art can be produced in a coffee house setting.
Jack Bowman
#25. Admiration for a quality or an art can be so strong that it deters us from striving to possess it.
Friedrich Nietzsche
#26. Part of the triumph of modernist poetry is, indeed, to have demonstrated the great extent to which verse can do without explicit meaning and yet not sacrifice anything essential to its effect as art. Here, as before, successful art can be depended upon to explain itself.
Clement Greenberg
#27. Nothing worthy can be built on a neglect of higher meanings and on a relativistic view of concepts and culture as a whole. Indeed, something greater than a phenomenon confined to art can be discerned shimmering here beneath the surface - shimmering not with light but with an ominous crimson glow.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#28. An artist cannot be partially sincere any more than art can be an approximation of beauty
Andrei Tarkovsky
#29. Art can be thought of as a form of visual foreplay before the climax.
V.S. Ramachandran
#30. What the art world has done, it has been constantly been pushing the boundaries about what art can be. It's like expanding its territory.
Tom Rachman
#31. I'd rather not get into what I'm talking about lyrically. I think it's impossible not to demystify a song when saying what it's about. Music and art can be damaged severely by too much information; I say that as somebody that has participated in that.
Trent Reznor
#32. Art can be close to the bone, but we are not our work. Try not to identify your core ego with your art.
Kay WalkingStick
#33. Art can be a kind of therapeutic, or kind of a fantasy life, or wish fulfillment ... o r creating this alternate universe. Art gives me the freedom to do that.
Raymond Pettibon
#34. Life itself is offensive and certainly does not apologize - in fact, it hurts considerably and, as we all know, is often very rude and troublesome, just as nature or art can be.
Michael Leunig
#35. Only when painting isn't painting can there be an affront to modesty.
Pablo Picasso
#37. I can't stand these damn shows on museum walls with neat little frames, where you look at the images as if they were pieces of art. I want them to be pieces of life!
W. Eugene Smith
#38. I know it's superficial, and you can't measure art, which is supposed to be up to the individual, but I've watched the Oscars since I was a baby with my mother.
Kerry Condon
#39. I like keeping my work so open that it can be interpreted on different levels. Art can't be compared with journalism; it can't discuss concrete issues.
Mona Hatoum
#40. Poetry is more than just art, it's like super glue to a broken heart. It can also be a light when your life seems a little dark.
Delano Johnson
#41. We can't be certain who the villains are cuz everyone's so pretty, but the after party's sure to be the wing-ding as it moves into your city.
Sheryl Crow
#42. True healing is not physical - it is a spiritual awakening to our True Self. If art is used for that purpose then it can be quite healing as it purifies the mind of thoughts that create disease.
Judith Cornell
#44. Gratitude for the gift of life is the primary wellspring of all religions, the hallmark of the mystic, the source of all true art ... It is a privilege to be alive in this time when we can choose to take part in the self-healing of our world.
Joanna Macy
#45. You want to know how I think art should be taught to children? Take them to a museum and say, 'This is art, and you can't do it.
Steve Martin
#46. The growth of populations has in no way increased the amount [of art], it has merely increased
the adeptness with which substitutes can be produced and packaged.
Raymond Chandler
#47. Of course, it's wonderful to film any period piece - but especially 'Foyle's War' because the art direction is so imaginative and yet at the same time so real. You can open a drawer on set, and even though the camera never sees what's inside, it'll be filled with genuine 1940s documents.
Honeysuckle Weeks
#48. You can choose to be mad in a negative
way where it fuels you to do
mean, hateful things, or you can let
your madness fuel your art and
channel it in a positive way.
Allie Gonino
#49. Everything I have is dirty, but I'm sure I can figure something. Maybe I can make a dress out of a garbage bag. Lady Gaga wore that meat dress to the VMA's, so I should be able to dress in a garbage bag. I'll get black ones, to symbolize my current state of mind. Like performance art of something.
Lauren Barnholdt
#50. I can pick out people in this city to follow. I can be in a show at the Museum of Modern Art, my space in the Museum of Modern Art is my mailbox, my mail is delivered there. Whenever I want mail, I have to go through this city to get my mail.
Vito Acconci
#51. Vulnerability gives us freedom, power and connects us to a network of injured souls. It is through the art of being real that we can heal ourself and others.
Shannon L. Alder
#52. We will be happy if we can get around to the idea that art is not an outside and extra thing; that it is a natural outcome of a state of being; that the state of being is the important thing; that a man can be a carpenter and be a great man.
Robert Henri
#53. We don't sell a watch to give time. We sell a piece of art. We sell an object that represents something to you, you know. It's like you have a nice shirt or a nice jacket. It's like a luxury accessories that can be considered like shoes or like handbags for ladies.
Ricardo Guadalupe
#54. No form of art repeats or imitates successfully all that can be said by another; the writer conveys his experience of life along a channel of communication closed to painter, mathematician, musician, film-maker.
Storm Jameson
#55. Slavery of the heart, oh Love - a prisoner of will thou art - proof that love, while blissful, can oft also be Hell. Demonstrative definition thou art, that love can be strategic as well!
Christina Engela
#56. At different moments you see with different eyes. You see differently in the morning than you do in the evening. In addition, how you see is also dependent on your emotional state. Because of this, a motif can be seen in many different ways, and this is what makes art interesting.
Edvard Munch
#57. Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm.
Robert Schumann
#58. As great a picture can be made as one's mental capacity-no greater. Art cannot be taught; it must be self-inspiration, though the imagination may be fired and the ambition and work directed by the advice and example of others.
Edward Weston
#59. The problem with our art form: it's so ephemeral, and catching performances can be so difficult ... the important thing is what happens at the moment of performance, for the people who made the effort to be there: it lives with them.
Judith Weir
#60. The less you think you know, the more will be known. It's amazing what you can know when you let go of being the knower.
Art Hochberg
#61. There can be no progress-real, moral prgress-except in the individual and by the individual himself.
Charles Baudelaire
#62. People are broad-minded. They'll accept the fact that a person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a newspaperman, but if a man does not drive, there is something wrong with him.
Art Buchwald
#63. There can be no doubt that the development of a practical method of water disinfection during the last two years marks an epoch in the art of water purification.
Charles-Edward A. Winslow
#64. The thing is we can't be attached to anything we've experienced up to this point in our life - any person, any situation, any outcomes, any happiness, any pain - any of it.
Art Hochberg
#65. We can have all the food and water we need, but without the sustenance of
real story, real art - without the wisdom, insight, and "life instruction" it brings - we will stagnate as a culture and become a swamp where quality life can no longer be sustained. So share your gifts! Share your art!
Derek Rydall
#66. To sought out solace within yourself is the most difficult challenge and is quickly ignored by many, thus can only be achieved when you find truth within oneself
Yolanda De Iuliis
#67. Working in the arts, you see people who come from terrible circumstances and who, for whatever reason, have incredible talent. But of course, with that great talent comes some guilt because, if you come from circumstances that don't encourage it, it can be really confusing.
Jesse Eisenberg
#68. People think a big camera and big lighting will make art, and I want to break that rule. If you have a great concept, it can be art.
Nikki S. Lee
#69. Our lives are constantly changing. Different things become relevant at different times in our lives. We are motivated by our changing sensibilities. Why can that not be applied to art?
Sarah Thornton
#70. The question is not ... if art is enough to fulfill my life, but if I am true to the path I have set for myself, if I am the best I can be in the things I do. Am I living up to the reasons I became a singer in the first place?
Kathleen Battle
#71. A dog can be a living work of art, a constant reminder of the exquisite design and breathtaking detail of nature, beauty on four paws.
Dean Koontz
#72. The art of writing is to explain the complications of the human soul with the simplicity that can be universally understood.
Alan Sillitoe
#73. Fuck me, how a woman can be so transparent and so full of shit at the same time is beyond me, but, baby, you got it down to an art
Kristen Ashley
#74. I think that there is a role for food to be art; and when food is art, it can have drama, it can have spectacle, it can be theatrical. It can be this amazing experience.
Nathan Myhrvold
#75. The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation.
Auguste Rodin
#76. I'm not actually a mom in real life, so it's fun to pretend to be one. I like to approach things the same in art as in life. You can choose to look on the positive side and enjoy whatever roles you're given. You can find the silver lining in anything.
Heather Graham
#77. Ask yourself, are you an artist, or are you an art business? You can be both, but to be successful you need to think and act like a business owner.
Dave Conrey
#78. Works of Art can only be produc'd in Perfection where the Man is either in Affluence or is Above the Care of it.
William Blake
#79. Creating art (music, books, films, etc.) can be beautiful and liberating, but trying to sell art, well, that is the movie business. There are few winners, and lots and lots of losers.
Ronnie Apteker
#80. If you chase the art, you really can't fail because you'll always be able to look at yourself in the mirror. And that's not about making angry decisions, either, it's about always doing the right thing for you, your fans and your art.
Gerard Way
#81. The artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.
Paul Strand
#82. On the other hand, the waging of peace as a science, as an art, is in its infancy. But we can trace its growth, its steady progress, and the time will come when there will be particular individuals designated to assume responsibility for and leadership of this movement.
Fredrik Bajer
#83. The wrongs of society can be more deeply impressed on a large class of readers in the form of fiction than by essays, sermons, or the facts of science.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
#84. I love art, I love music. I can listen to Stockhausen and a very experimental, avant-garde approach, and I can listen to Beethoven and have a more classical, traditional approach. Why not be able to do that with film performance?
Nicolas Cage
#85. Secrets can actually be quite important. A work of art that reveals its meaning or its power too quickly is uninteresting. It might not even be a good work of art.
Thomas Koerfer
#86. I look at composers and conductors, anybody involved in music or writing or art in general; they got more done as they got older. If I can, I'll be one of those people because what I do is my passion.
Sarah Brightman
#87. Nothing can be true which is either complete or vacant; every touch is false which does not suggest more than it represents, and every space is false which represents nothing.
John Ruskin
#88. Photoghraphic projects can be as short as an afternoon or as long as a lifetime.
George Barr
#89. A blind man can make art if what is in his mind can be passed to another mind in some tangible form.
Sol LeWitt
#90. What goes on in abstract art is the proclaiming of aesthetic principles ... It is in our own time that we have become aware of pure aesthetic considerations. Art never can be imitation.
Hans Hofmann
#91. Mild autism can give you a genius like Einstein. If you have severe autism, you could remain nonverbal. You don't want people to be on the severe end of the spectrum. But if you got rid of all the autism genetics, you wouldn't have science or art. All you would have is a bunch of social 'yak yaks.'
Temple Grandin
#92. If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need to do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.
Sun Tzu
#93. I don't believe that art and politics or social issues must be separated. In writing about marriage, for example, money can be a big factor, and money is linked to earning, and earning is influenced by politics.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
#94. No art is any good unless you can feel how it's put together. By and large it's the eye, the hand and if it's any good, you feel the body. Most of the best stuff seems to be a complete gesture, the totality of the artist's body; you can really lean on it.
Frank Stella
#95. You are an artist," she said. "But then all scientists are artists, my father used to say. You think like an artist, at any rate, and I can see that you want what you create to be a work of art.
Pearl S. Buck
#96. Art you can flush down the loo means nothing to me, even were the loo to be selected by Marcel Duchamp
Andrew O'Hagan
#97. Documentary is thought to be art when it transcends its reference to the world, when the work can be regarded, first and foremost, as an act of self-expression on the part of the artist.
Allan Sekula
#98. Since art is the expression of beauty and beauty can be understood only in the form of the material elements of the true idea it contains, art has become almost uniquely feminine. Beauty is woman, and also art is woman.
Remy De Gourmont
#99. What I am really concerned about is what art is supposed to be - and can become.
Bruce Nauman
#100. The art world can be very intimidating because it's just so vast. You talk to people who are really clued in to all the young artists and coming into it you're never going to be able to catch up immediately, even though there's pressure to.
Daniel Radcliffe
