Artists on Art

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
~ Edgar Degas

“There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain. ”
~ Georges Braque

If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.”
Edward Hopper

“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.”
~ Francis Bacon

“A picture is a poem without words.”
~ Horace

“Creativity takes courage.” 
~ Henri Matisse

“A painting is not about an experience. It is an experience.”
~ Mark Rothko

 I had the sublime innocence of one who has never been told what is not done or even what is not possible.  At various times in my previous life, I had dreamed of being a writer or a sculptor. You needed to know something for the one and have talent for the other.  This was the perfect lateral pass.  And so in complete ignorance, with the wrong tools and apparently the right attitude, I began.”
~ Arthur Espenet Carpenter

“Just do your work.  And if the world needs your work, it will come and get you.  And if it doesn’t, do your work anyway. You can have fantasies about having control over the world, but I know I can barely control my kitchen sink. That is the grace I am given. Because when one can control things, one is limited to one’s own vision.”
~ Kiki Smith

“I don’t think about art when I’m working.  I try to think about life.”
~ Jean-Michel Basquiat

“Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work. And have the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will — through work — bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great ‘art idea.’ And the belief that process, in a sense, is liberating and that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every day.”
~ Chuck Close

“When I’m actually painting, I feel like I’m 30 again. It’s only when I stop painting that I realize I’m not anymore.”
~ David Hockney

 “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”
~ Dorothea Lange

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