Paul Simon Quotes

Art is the microscope of the mind, which sharpens the wit as the other does the sight; and converts every object into a little universe in itself. Art may be said to draw aside the veil from nature. To those who are perfectly unskilled in the practice, unimbued with the principles of art, most objects present only a confused mass.

he could transform the barest incident into a thing of curve and contour.

Drawing is giving a performance; an artist is an actor who is not limited by the body, only by his ability and, perhaps, experience.

Art revolves around creating something that isn't there.

I love illustrating for other writers because I am given stories I never would have thought of, and my work as an illustrator is always in support of the story.

The body, in 'La Belle Noiseuse,' was the source of the artist's creativity.

To give a body and a perfect form to one's thought, this - and only this - is to be an artist.

With the brush we merely tint, while the imagination alone produces colour.

Great art picks up where nature ends.

Illustrations can be a big window: a looking glass into the author's imagination.

It's amazing what you can do with an E in A-Level art, a twisted imagination and a chainsaw.

Were I called on to define, very briefly, the term Art, I should call it 'the reproduction of what the Senses perceive in Nature through the veil of the soul.' The mere imitation, however accurate, of what is in Nature, entitles no man to the sacred name of 'Artist.'

From the age of six I wanted to be an artist. At that point I meant a painter, but it turned out what I really meant was I was someone who was very interested in watching the world and making copies of it.

Art does not, like science, set forth a permanent order of nature, the enduring skeleton of law. Two factors primarily determine its works: one is the idea in the mind of the artist, the other is his power of expression; and both these factors are extremely variable.

To say to the painter that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player that he may sit on the piano.

The things that I paint are things that I know very well.

I read things and imagine them and then kind of start trying to kind of take what I imagine and make it visual for everybody else to see. It just happens to be my personal vision, and every person's is going to be different, every book reader.

I don't know why you'd want to say your work comes from nature, because art is related to perception, not nature. All abstract artists try to tell you that what they do comes from nature, and I'm always trying to tell you that what I do is completely abstract. We're both saying something we want to be true.

You have to be creative. It's the basics. You can't be Picasso unless you know how to draw a real face; then you can turn it upside down.

Someone who is an artist can say, 'I can create and can make what I create disappear.'

A great painter can paint something really complex, but they can crystallize it into something really simple.

In a photo, you just do a click, but in art you have to put in so much energy. This concentration of energy and attention says something that other media cannot say.

Life and art are inseparable.

If I could bring 'The Tunnel' to life, I'd like to do it like that.

That's what art is. You don't make up stories. You live your life.