Famous Artist Sayings

#1. There's a famous artist, Ron English, in New York, that just, or Andy Warhol for that matter, that did pop art that terrorized society. And that's, for the last like 10, 15 years, that's all I wanted to do, is terrorize society and make them look into a mirror and see what the hell we have wrought.

Al Jourgensen

#2. When I got into the music industry, I wasn't focused on being the most famous artist or even getting a major record deal. It was just to make music on my own terms or create my own image, do my own hair, do my own makeup.

Janelle Monae

#3. I always wrote, you know, but it was just this thing I did; what I intended was to become a terribly famous artist, perhaps with a stopover as a singer.

Holly Lisle

#4. As artists get wealthier and more famous, often their work gets worse ... I'm fascinated by the decline of artists. I suspect I'll be in decline myself. It's a fact of life.

Martin Parr

#5. I grew up a fat kid in a small town in Minnesota who was a tomboy and happened to play a mean violin. My goal was to be a famous concert artist some day.

Gretchen Carlson

#6. Artists shouldn't be made famous. They have this huge aura of almost god-like quality about them, just because their craft makes a lot of money. And at the same time it is a forced importance ... It is man-made so the press can feed off it.

Kate Bush

#7. I saw that everything famous and beautiful in the world, if we judge by the descriptions and drawings of writers and artists, always loses when we go to see it and examine it closely.

Giacomo Casanova

#8. A lot of people thought I got famous as a studio artist, then decided to cash in on it. But it actually was just a matter of survival for many years, and I felt it was really important for me to be able to say whatever I wanted with my street art and fine art.

Shepard Fairey

#9. When I was young, anywhere I would go in Germany, I would see my father's posters. Everyone knew about him. And he had many friends who were artists who were also quite famous. So, for me, it seemed very natural to be an artist and be known.

Ruth Bernhard

#10. Every artist that becomes famous has a team, and needs to convince someone to believe in them enough to have others rally around them to achieve stardom. If I can be that person, then I am happy to do it.

Wendy Starland

#11. Please welcome our hometown girl, a Winsor Cougar, a world-famous recording artist. Please welcome Chanin Anne.

Tim Mettey

#12. There's a myth among amateurs, optimists and fools that beyond a certain level of achievement, famous artists retire to some kind of Elysium where criticism no longer wounds and work materializes without their effort.

Mark Matousek

#13. I remember being so young I thought all artists were famous.

Mary Ruefle

#14. It wasn't not being famous any more, or even not being a recording artist. It was having nobody who needed me, no phones ringing, nothing to do. Because I'm still too young to do nothing. I was only 24 when all that happened. Now, at 40, I feel I've got more to give than I ever have.

Gary Barlow

#15. Cartola is an artist from Brazil who didn't record until much later in his life, but had a big influence on a lot of famous artists down there, like Gilberto Gil. I discovered his music recently when I was in Brazil.

Jesse Harris

#16. Today, as you know, I am famous and very rich. But when I am alone with myself, I haven't the 'courage' to consider myself an artist, in the great and ancient sense of that word ... I am only a public entertainer, who understands his age.

Pablo Picasso

#17. I want to be really special, I want to be really good. It's not enough to be famous for me. Famous is empty so quickly, it's not what people think it is. It's wonderful, but if you're famous and you feel that you're an artist inside and everyone thinks you're just a celebrity, it's really painful.

Cher

#18. When you start to think of the arts as not this thing that is going to get you somewhere in terms of becoming an artist or becoming famous or whatever it is that people do, but rather a way of making being in the world not just bearable, but fascinating, then it starts to get interesting again.

Lynda Barry

#19. It has always been important to me to be a creative artist, not to be a star, not to be rich, not to be famous.

Donna McKechnie

#20. It has been my personal experience that as I allow the painting to speak I become lost, it is delicious and at the same time frightening. The best ones, to me, have a life of their own.

Luther E. Vann

#21. The most famous living artist in America is Andy Warhol, unfortunately.

John Heilpern

#22. I've got something to live for, because I always wanted to be an artist; I always wanted to be famous.

Daniel Johnston

#23. You don't need to be famous to live a life as an artist.

Sandra Bernhard

#24. I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.

Nat King Cole

#25. Fame was never something I was seeking in my artistic journey. It's to be used as a tool for an artist to break open doors and keep creating. That's how I enjoyed fame in '74; it was not just for the emptiness of being famous.

Philippe Petit

#26. A lot of people found themselves working at the Factory and some even in his bed as a result of random occurrences like your call. Most famous artists have never been all that interested in meeting strangers. That was not the case with Andy Warhol at all.

Bob Colacello

#27. For me, if the music is good, whether the artist is famous or unknown, I love being part of the music and contributing what I can to the bass end.

Tony Levin

#28. Van Gogh was so under appreciated in his time, he sold only one of his 900 paintings while alive. Posthumously, he became one of the most famous artists of all time and his work is now considered priceless. Oh the irony.

Vincent Van Gogh

#29. Music definitely gave me a focus. I was an artist without an outlet. Let's just say if I was not famous, I could have been infamous. I could've had my own episode of 'American Gangster.'

CeeLo Green

#30. I should like to be famous and unknown.

Edgar Degas

#31. The difference between famous creators and struggling artists is that the creators know that improving the lives of others deserves the highest reward.

Alan Cohen

#32. I want to be famous but unknown!

Edgar Degas

#33. Anybody auditions for X-Factor it's because they want to be famous, not because they are artists.

Bruce Dickinson