Modern Art Quotes - Page 6

• On the surface the avant garde as a whole seems united primarily in terms of what they are against: the rejection of social institutions and established artistic conventions, or antagonism towards the public (as representative of the existing order). By contrast any positive programme tends to be claimed as exclusive property by isolated and even mutually antagonistic sub-groups. So modern art appears fragmented and sectarian, defined as much by manifestos as imaginative work.

  C. D. Innes

  Art, Order, Rejection

  10 Copy quote

• In ceasing to subordinate creative power to any supreme value, modern art has brought home to us the presence of that creative power throughout the whole history of art.

  Andre Malraux

  Art, Home, Creative

  "The Voices of Silence". Book by Andre Malraux, Doubleday, Part IV, Chapter VI, 1953.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Make it new is the message not just of modern art but of modern consumerism, of which modern art is largely a mirror image.

  Christopher Lasch

  Art, Mirrors, Messages

  8 Copy quote

• As the spiral of modern art history continues to wind down, we can see the increasing demand for tradition in the visual arts.

  Igor Babailov

  Art, Wind, Demand

  15 Copy quote

• Painting is... a correspondence between what you are and what you see. It's a moment when something is holding together in such a way that it is a universe in itself... Within this is a test and also a judgment upon yourself, your capabilities, your promises, and the part that you play in the world. And nobody else can test that for you. Certainly not the Museum of Modern Art.

  Milton Resnick

  Art, Museums, Play

  7 Copy quote

• Much modern art is, at first sight, unnerving... in the contemporary world, we have come to expect instant response and immediate understanding.

  Nicholas Serota

  Art, Sight, Understanding

  8 Copy quote

• In the potential of absurdity, hiding in the disparate combination of the various different subjects which in themselves are nothing but daily items equally in the exclusive representation of a normal item taken out of their usual context, is by far the most radical - in its effect comparable to a Japanese Zen koan - paradox to be witnessed, which modern art has produced, one of the most forceful impulses that generated from it.

  Antoni Tapies

  Art, Taken, Usual

  "Tàpies, Werke auf Papier 1943 - 2003" by Antoni Tapies, Kunsthalle Emden, edited by Achim Sommer, Altana, (p. 28), 2004.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Well, method is, it seems to me, a natural growth out of a need, and from a need the modern artist has found new ways of expressing the world about him. I happen to find ways that are different from the usual techniques, which seems a little strange at the moment, but I don't think there's anything very different about it. I paint on the floor and this isn't unusual - the Orientals did that.

  Jackson Pollock

  Thinking, Artist, Growth

  16 Copy quote

• The modern artist is living in a mechanical age and we have a mechanical means of representing objects in nature such as the camera and photograph. The modern artist, it seems to me, is working and expressing an inner world - in other words - expressing the energy , the motion and the other inner forces ... the modern artist is working with space and time , and expressing his feelings rather than illustrating.

  Jackson Pollock

  Mean, Artist, Space

  7 Copy quote

• The skills of the modern artist are the opposite of those of the craftsman: instead of acquiring techniques for producing classes of objects, the artist today perfects the means suited to his particular work.

  Harold Rosenberg

  Mean, Artist, Skills

  "Art and Other Serious Matters". Book by Harold Rosenberg. Chapter: "Inquest into Modernism", p. 51, 1985.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• They decided to establish a museum of modern art where works by contemporary artists would be shown. Mother was viewed as a very progressive person, and not everybody liked the paintings she bought.

  David Rockefeller

  Mother, Art, Museums

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• So that’s our approach. Very simple, and we’re really shooting for Museum of Modern Art quality. The way we’re running the company, the product design, the advertising, it all comes down to this: Let’s make it simple. Really simple.” Apple’s design mantra would remain the one featured on its first brochure: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

  Walter Isaacson

  Running, Art, Simple

  Walter Isaacson (2011). “Steve Jobs”, p.126, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• People always make the mistake of thinking art is created for them. But really, art is a private language for sophisticates to congratulate themselves on their superiority to the rest of the world. As my artist’s statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of deep significance.

  Bill Watterson

  Art, Mistake, Thinking

  "It's a Magical World". Book by Bill Watterson, October 1996.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• I was getting tired of hearing the complaint, "My kid could do this," and "We don't get it. What's modern art? Blah, blah, blah." And I wondered what would really happen if you gave people what they wanted, something they always look at.

  John Baldessari

  Art, Tired, Kids

  "Just an Artist". Interview with Susan Sollins, art21.org. July 2008.

  65 Copy quote

  Show source