Lupe Fiasco Quotes

I'm not belittling the art world. Not at all. I take it quite seriously, actually. But the logic of art is a vanguard logic that pressures art to incorporate the quotient of risk.

Avant-garde art jousts with propriety, but takes care never to unseat it.

Art begins in imitation and ends in innovation.

I think if you're a creative person, then you're always kinda looking to move things along - 'Where else can I go? Where can I take this?' From painters to photographers - anything creative in the arts - if you're a true artist, I think you'll always look to do something else. 'Where else can I go with it?' Do you know what I mean?

I always have a feeling you should move the playing field and the minute you know what you're doing, you're wrong. Therefore, I wanted us not to try to follow Spamalot immediately, but to do something different. This is perfect because it uses all the same skills, like story telling and lyric writing and music writing, but it's presenting it in a different form. And of course it gives me and John a nice chance to perform and show off which is also fun.

I'm a sworn enemy of convention. I despite the conventional in anything, even the arts. I paint canvasses on the floor and drove one art teacher out of his mind. But that's just the way I paint best.

All art is based on non-conformity.

I think nearly every artist continually wants to reach the edge of nothingness - the point where you can’t go any further.

Artists are free to push boundaries to make art. But when pushing boundaries is their only aim, the result is usually bad art.

Art like life, should be free, since both are experimental.

I've been joking that if Madonna taught us anything, you've got to reinvent yourself. I think it's important as a filmmaker, as any person working in the arts, that you've got to try new stuff and challenge yourself and take chances. I've tried to take a chance with every film I've done - I've never done it the easy way, and I think that's because that's what excites me, is making as big a mountain as I can in front of me, and just trying to mount it.

I tend to keep my mind open to the different forms of art out there and I am always willing to try new stuff.

There is nothing new in art except talent.

That is a big danger, losing your inspiration. When I work in film and television I try to do each take a little differently. I never want to do the same thing twice, because then you're not being spontaneous, you're just recreating something.

The apparatus has to serve our improbability and improvisation. Being good and playing the songs is not enough.

Some of the most radical work is being done in the most commercially pop venues, and some of the most boring work is being done in avant-garde territory.

I'm not able to go in with an act that I use month to month year to year all the time. It's constantly evolving and changing and that keeps me on my toes but certainly adds to the challenge.

Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.

Even if I play a similar role to one I've played before, I will never play it the same, I'll always try to do something different with it.

Jazz is all about improvisation and it's about the moment in time, doing it this way now, and you'll never do it this way twice. I've studied the masters. Why would I want to play ball after the guys who sit on a bench? I want to play like Michael Jordan.

I try not to do anything by formula.

Every day I look forward to getting with my instruments, trying new things.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

I was very into making the Big Artistic Statement - it had to be innovative; it had to be cutting edge. I was desperately keen on being original.

I may play the same songs night to night, but I never play them the same way.