Florentijn Hofman Quotes

#1. I think places that need the rubber duck the most are the ones in distress.

Florentijn Hofman

#2. El Paso in many ways is the Ellis Island for Mexico and much of Latin America.

Beto O'Rourke

#3. The slugs are ascending this steep city staircase that leads up to a huge Catholic church, essentially signifying their slow crawl towards death. The work reminds us of religion, mortality, natural decay, and the slow suffocation of commercialized societies.

Florentijn Hofman

#4. I want people to get inspired by public space - their space. People tend to forget about it because they do the daily thing, but putting up these sculptures breaks the routine.

Florentijn Hofman

#5. I used to get a lot of rubber ducks on my birthdays as presents because, you know, I make rubber ducks. But then I get the ugliest ones with a neck, ugly colors, and devil ears. I don't like those.

Florentijn Hofman

#6. I make big objects that are simple, bright and clear, kind of ironic but hopefully funny because I love the shapes, and I get inspiration from toys and books, and I believe in art for everyone.

Florentijn Hofman

#7. My sculptures cause an uproar, astonishment, and put a smile on your face.

Florentijn Hofman

#8. That is the effect of my sculptures in the public domain: people are making contact with each other again.

Florentijn Hofman

#9. I make work not to give answers but to question things.

Florentijn Hofman

#10. I've always said the rubber duck is a yellow catalyst.

Florentijn Hofman

#11. Your opponents would love you to believe that it's hopeless, that you have no power, that there's no reason to act, that you can't win. Hope is a gift you don't have to surrender, a power you don't have to throw away.

Rebecca Solnit

#12. I make work a bit like how you mix cocktails - with ingredients like budget, history and location.

Florentijn Hofman

#13. What virtue is there in a man who demonstrates goodness because he has been bred to it? It is his habit from youth. But a man who has known unkindness and want, for him to be kind and charitable to those who have been the cause of his misfortunes, that is a virtuous man.

Deanna Raybourn

#14. I love it when people travel to see one of my works, and I always make time to meet and talk with them.

Florentijn Hofman

#15. 'The Moon Rabbit' is laying against the bunker, dreaming and thinking about life and dreaming the impossible possible and creating its own true stories.

Florentijn Hofman

#16. The Internet is fascinating but also stupid in a way. You only see two-dimensional images, and you think you've seen it and know it.

Florentijn Hofman

#17. The world reflects back to you how much you value yourself.

Danielle LaPorte

#18. In Holland, we have a saying: 'A knife cuts on two sides.' With the rubber duck, I'm trying to show people what they haven't been seeing in their public space. When the rubber duck is there and when it's gone, you know.

Florentijn Hofman

#19. She could see the worst parts of him, in the ugliness of his face and the degenerate use of her body. He showed her every dirty, unkind desire and God help her, she never told him no.

Skye Warren

#20. When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?

Kristin Cashore

#21. I really hate rubber ducks, actually.

Florentijn Hofman

#22. I wanted to use the hippo to get people out of their homes, away from the Internet and the TV, and to explore London with a new perspective.

Florentijn Hofman

#23. If you work in a public space, you have to be aware that no one is buying a ticket.

Florentijn Hofman