Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Slipping into madness is good for the sake of comparison
It can be kind of gruesome at times, making things alone.
A positive attitude means all the difference in the world.
At times inactivity is preferable to mindless functioning.
The greatest disappointment is when you let yourself down.
Fear is the most elegant weapon, your hands are never messy
I wanted to be an abstract painter, but I was rotten at it.
When you start liking pain things start to get interesting.
It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender.
It is embarrassing to be caught and killed for stupid reasons
At times your unconsciousness is truer than your conscious mind
If you are an artist and you are honest, you are never good enough.
When my daughter was young, she thought all electronic signs were mine.
I began to see that the short texts I was writing were poster material.
I'm always trying to bring unusual content to a different audience - a non-art-world audience.
I wasn't sure I was an artist, so I thought maybe I just was throwing ideas out for people to consider.
TRYING TO BE POPULAR IN HIGH SCHOOL IS LIKE TRYING TO BE MAYOR OF A CITY THAT WON'T EXIST IN FOUR YEARS.
I really like doing the laundry, because I succeed at it. But I loathe putting it away. It is already clean.
SPIT ALL OVER SOMEONE WITH A MOUTHFUL OF MILK IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR PERSONALITY FAST.
I used language because I wanted to offer content that people - not necessarily art people - could understand.
One of the glories and terrors of working in public is that you do see if your output means anything to anyone.
I moved to New York in the 1970s and started writing when I was at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.
My arrogance knows no bounds and I will make no peace today, and you should be so lucky to find a woman like me.
It's good to be employable, but I hope to show the truth. The paintings seem true because nobody wants me to do them.
Usually going places makes me feel optimistic. And I'm a hillbilly, so heading to the countryside made sense a number of ways.
The epiphany for me was that I wasnt a writer, and I had to do something with these texts. I put them in the streets as posters.
The epiphany for me was that I wasn't a writer, and I had to do something with these texts. I put them in the streets as posters.
How do you resign yourself to something that will never be? You stop wanting just that thing. You go numb. Or you kill the agent of desire.
It's important to keep life simple, and if I'm traveling, I only can do a couple of things, and those are the things that I'm meant to be doing.
It can be kind of gruesome at times, making things alone. I don't want to be too dramatic, but it's hard. It's necessary to start most work alone.
I wanted to support things that are helpful to people and maybe bash what I think is dangerous. So I switched from being everybody to being myself.
I think of a piece, and then people who are competent fabricate it. But lately I've started finger painting, which probably should be a joke but isn't!
THERE IS A PERIOD WHEN IT IS CLEAR THAT YOU HAVE GONE WRONG BUT YOU CONTINUE. SOMETIMES THERE IS A LUXURIOUS AMOUNT OF TIME BEFORE ANYTHING BAD HAPPENS.
One thing that changed when I moved upstate was that I became interested in different materials. I started making the stone benches because I was seeing rocks.
I get up about four times a night and go back to sleep, or not. Then I swill tea around 8 a.m. I answer e-mail, while I stall thinking about whatever scares me.
That's the test of street art – to see if anybody stopped. People would cross out ones they didn't like and would star others. I liked that people would engage with them.
That's the test of street art - to see if anybody stopped. People would cross out ones they didn't like and would star others. I liked that people would engage with them.
It's necessary to start most work alone. But I'm tickled to death when I can pull somebody in or join someone, whether it's borrowing poetry or traveling with an associate.
I seldom have my stuff up unless I'm testing it. If I'm worrying about a painting, I put it up and see if I detest it quickly or slowly. Otherwise I have things by other artists.
I'd been doing projects outdoors for the public. I made pigeons eat geometry by putting bread out in rhomboids and triangles. I don't know if this activity made sense, but the work was available.
So much of art-making is about reducing things to the essentials, so I don't feel particularly crippled by this. I don't want it to look natural because then I would be making a documentary film.
The desperate things seem to require attention, the lovely things seem to elicit celebration. If I had to choose, I would go to the awful in the hope that doing something could yield a happier result.
BY YOUR RESPONSE TO DANGER IT IS EASY TO TELL HOW YOU HAVE LIVED AND WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO YOU. YOU SHOW WHETHER YOU WANT TO STAY ALIVE, WHETHER YOU THINK YOU DESERVE TO, AND WHETHER YOU BELIEVE IT'S ANY GOOD TO ACT.
I was hesitant to approach people. I'm socially awkward. But I was working on a number of memorials, and finally it dawned on me: These are memorials to people who wrote, so I should use their writing. That's how I started to quit.
I'd paint long strips of canvas and abandon them on the beach, or put bread out in geometric patterns for the pigeons downtown. I wanted people to find something nice and intriguing to puzzle over. Then I'd go back to see if the things were still there, or if anyone would notice.
Well, I think in trying to make life seem real enough that one is moved to do something about the more atrocious things. By going really far afield into a completely fake world, maybe there's a chance to make things resonant somehow - or in this case, truly terrifying. To make it as bad as the real stuff that's happening.