Irving Penn Quotes

I realize that every picture isn't a work of art.

Painting is a nail to which I fasten my ideas.

Art doesn't transform. It just plain forms.

But I think that's a particular kind of experience involving a certain immediacy between you and the canvass, you and the particular kind of experience of that particular moment.

I suppose I consider my work a kind of picture making.

I love painting. As far as photography is concerned, I understand nothing.

A painter may be looking at the world in a way which is very different from everyone else. If he's a craftsman, he can get other people to see the world through his eyes, and so he enlarges our vision, perception, and there's great value in that.

There is no reason for me to show my collection in New York, because it's not about craft and technique there.

I have to say that I reject somewhat the distinction between something called art and something called public art. I think all art demands and desires to be seen.

I make pictures and someone comes in and calls it art.

You don't paint pictures to put them in your attic. You want people to look at them.

I don't think there's any formula for what makes great art.

It is not your paintings I like, it is your painting.

The job of art is to chase ugliness away.

There's a point where art is not subjective, and my example for that is Picasso. If you don't like Picasso, that's your problem.

I made one untitled piece.

Entertainment is in art like color in pictures.

The artist makes things concrete and gives them individuality.

I don't want to be a film-maker. I think painting is far more exciting and profound.

When art dresses in worn-out material it is most easily recognized as art.

In a perfect world, I would be a painter. I love working with my hands. I don't get to do it as much as I like, but I am finding a way to make more time as life goes on because it's a really great outlet for me to express myself.

Artists are the people that no matter what, pick up the pen, pick up a paintbrush. They take the time to translate what is happening to create something that resonates deeply with the rest of the people that are caught in the middle of their own reality.

I don't see myself as a photographer. I still see the photographs and collages as a resource for the painting.

An artiste's input, her ability to create dimensions within the given space is very important.

Photography is Art and Art is Photography.