Billy Al Bengston Quotes

Art and works of art do not make an artist; sense and enthusiasm and instinct do.

At moments we are all artists.

I'm an artist in my heart.

I have such deep appreciation for artists who have the ability to create something from within, something completely unique and original to each piece of work.

I've always been creating my whole life, you know. I've just had a need to create, whether it was sculpting or writing or directing. It's just ever since I was a kid, I don't know.

A secondhand wardrobe hand clothes doesn't make one an artist. Neither do a hair-trigger temper, melancholic nature, propensity for tears, hating your parents, or HIV. I hate to say it - none of these make one an artist. They can help, but just as being gay doesn't make one witty... the only thing that makes one an artist is making art.

An artist is somebody who enters into competition with God.

My capacity for wanting to create has never faltered. If anything, it's gained momentum.

The boyhood dream of becoming a painter stays important to me.

I like being surrounded by all the stuff that makes me feel creative and inspires me.

I've always been creating, no one had to teach me how to create, I always made things.

I think everybody has a painter inside of them somewhere.

You know a trillion times more about art than me. But I’ve learned that it isn’t necessary to know all that much. You just make what you wanna see, right? It’s a game, right? It’s like being paid for dreaming.

Normal people do not create art.

That talk of inspiration is sheer nonsense; there is no such thing. It is a mere matter of craftsmanship.

Art is the perpetual motion of illusion. The highest purpose of art is to inspire. What else can you do? What else can you do for any one but inspire them?

Intelligence is not creative; judgment is not creative. If a sculptor is nothing but skill and mind, his hands will be without genius.

The artist should be intoxicated with the idea of the thing he wants to express.

Not that painting would have been a release. The reason for doing it is the desire to create. I've got to do it! I've seen that, I can still remember it, I've got to paint it.

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.

He lives with his creativity in high gear.

Music has always been a part of me and art in general. I love visual art as well.

My compulsion is to create things.

Designing came to me. I didn't have to move.

Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.