Taika Waititi Quotes

I leave the genre labeling to other people. I really do. If I were to think too hard about it, that would stifle you creatively. If you think too hard about who other people want you to be as an artist, it stops you from being who you want to be as an artist.

Some artists can work under one guise, whether it's a name or a band or doing film soundtracks, put all of their ideas in one pot and move on. Me, I need to compartmentalize.

I think a lot of Indians want Indian artists to be cultural cheerleaders rather than cultural investigators.

One of the things that I am happy about in my life as an artist is that I am not considered a Hispanic artist.

The whole point of film for me is that it's such a joy. It's such a wonder. The possibilities are literally endless in terms of what you can creatively do.

I try not to spend too much time interpreting my comics for people, because I try to put out there whatever I can, and people can draw whatever conclusions they want.

I want to write. I want to direct. I want to produce - I want to inhabit what I think it means to fully be an artist.

My artistic manifesto exists in the world as poetry. So even though most of the things that I've done have been on other people's projects or could be pigeonholed in certain ways, that's not how I perceive myself.

If the story-teller is to nourish the roots of his culture, society must set him free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

If you want to be an entertainer and just keep your audience happy, that's one thing. But to be an artist, I think, means ultimately primarily pleasing yourself, and in that respect, you constantly have this sense of confronting the expectations of your audience.

To call yourself a Chinese artist or woman artist or African artist reflects a certain kind of condition. To me, that is not necessary.

I don't want to go to a foreign country and get lumped into that genre. I'm just looking at the bigger picture. This K-pop title might be good for now, but looking ahead it could hold me back, like a prison of sort. I'm a little wary about that.

But what I'm very interested in, whether it's writing, whether it's hosting a show, whether it's cooking food, I'm just into the discussions of identity, culture and the politics of culture.

I made a lot mistakes that I'm grateful for, because I won't make them again and I won't let my artists make them, or I'll tell them, 'Don't do this.' A lot of them still make them anyway, but you can't be told things when you're doing your own thing.

I am here on Earth to express myself, and the many media of art are my magic carpets that allow me the freedom to do so.

When you're an artist, all you're trying to do is self-express.

I guess I created LeRoy Neiman. Nobody else told me how to do it. Well, I'm a believer in the theory that the artist is as important as his work.

I hate the idea that I have to represent any particular section of society; I just write good telly, that's all.

What part of people is resistant to an artist doing more than one thing? Is it somehow perceived as greedy? Anyone who has that weird volition to become an actor probably has a weird volition to do lots of other creative things - to write, to play music, to paint, to cook.

I made a real specific decision when I came out of school and most artists were writing about home - if you were a woman, you were writing about being a woman - and I decided not to do that, write about what you know. That's not what I do. I went as far away from home as possible in terms of the development of my imagination.

Artwork is not like a commercial business; there is no such thing as a schedule for art. You can't hurry art.

I don't control anything I create.

Anybody that has followed closely what I've been doing can see from 'Home,' being as big a hit as it was, it kind of opened the door for me to try new things musically.

As an artist, there's so many categories that you're put into, that there are so many things that I'm about that I've never explored as an artist on film. I don't see myself in so many characters in film.

I'm just an artist and I'm doin' what I like to do.