Yesterday I put in a thread about what I thought was a rather humourous way of looking at art. Today I wish to be a little more serious. I came across a quote from a contemporary artist which I thought was very meaningful and went quite a way in describing what art is (if art can ever be defined).

It would be interesting if we were all to post similar quotes that we find meaningful to us.

Here's mine for today from Osiris Rain.



I believe that as a painter it is my duty to bring dignity and beauty to mankind, to elevate, and exult the human condition. Every tear and sorrow, every joy and laughter, is a reason to celebrate the everyday as unique. I believe the best way to achieve this is through the representation of recognizable situations, figures, and emotions that resonate through time and space, that all of humanity can relate to in camaraderie, from the rich to the poor, from the educated to the non-educated. Through my paintings I seek to bring people together, and to help them realize that there is not so much difference between us.

What a wonderful saying, what a wonderful opinion.
I never heard of this artist before so I searched him with google - and there I found a sentence that fits to me like my left shoe (although I don't wear shoes ):




A very long time I've only read about drawing without using a single pencil. Then - after coming to this forum, everything changed and I know that this saying is for arts very important.
As you all ever said: Practice is everything!

Ok, this isn't a quote from an Old Master, but it's something I wrote a couple of years ago.

Art and Communication.

Looking at a work of art is like looking in a mirror at your own soul. Looking at art is also like Looking into a window of the soul of the other person.

Communication of art can only be effective if there are two things in place. One - the person creating the art must be able to communicate the intellectual content and the emotional tone that is within them. This is the responsibility of the artist or the communicator.

And second - the person viewing the art has to have comprehension or appreciation. They have to have similarities within them and the creator of the art.

One cannot judge the art of another artist unless they have the ability within to appreciate the particular work of art. What you see in art depends on this something within you, the viewer.

As a window, a work of art allows you to see within the heart and mind of the creator of the art, if there are similarities of hearts and minds.

Without this similarity of minds and hearts there cannot be appreciation or understanding. It is a dual responsibility.

We should not be so quick to judge and condemn a work of art. We can only know if we, the viewer, have the ability to understand or appreciate the work of art.

Bob

"I have learned that what I have not drawn I have never really seen, and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing, I realize how extraordinary it is..." Frederick Franck.

"A man paints with his brains and not with his hands." -Michelangelo

"An artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs." -Edgard Varese

And to give me perspective:

"If you were in a burning house and there was a cat and a Rembrandt, what would you save? The cat...you would save the cat, because the cat is alive. The art is dead. It's just paint on a canvas, ink on a page. To live for art is to deny life. It's just to destroy life." -Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider

Three of my favorite. I had to look up who said 'em! (kinda surprising, actually)

I have always admired Escher. I have even tried to duplicate one of his etchings and I understood how intricate and geometrically perfect ha can be. Not only does he have a mind to switch things around in art so it is mind boggling but he just creates it so perfectly! So here is a funny quote:

Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible. I think it's in my basement... let me go upstairs and check.