Malcolm Mclaren Quotes

I feel that art deals with issues way before any political organisation.

I mean, art for art's sake is ridiculous. Art is for the sake of one's needs.

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it.

I want to make it clear: it's not that I hate mainstream cinema. It's perfectly fine. There are a lot of people who need to escape, because they are in very difficult situations, so they have the right to escape from the world. But this has nothing to do with an art form.

Art never harms itself by keeping aloof from the social problems of the day: rather, by so doing, it more completely realises for us that which we desire.

I don't think we should be deceived that art is such a moral thing.

Art should never try to be popular.

How awful that the artist has become nothing but the after-dinner mint of society.

I never thought that the music called "jazz" was ever meant to reach just a small group of people, or become a museum thing locked under glass like all the other dead things that were once considered artistic.

Some people flinch when you talk about art in the context of the needs of society thinking you are introducing something far too common for a discussion of art. Why should art have a purpose and a use? Art shouldn't be concerned with purpose and reason and need, they say. These are improper. But from the very beginning, it seems to me, stories have indeed been meant to be enjoyed, to appeal to that part of us which enjoys good form and good shape and good sound.

A lot of the greatest artists, their work is always about life and the world. I think there needs to be that for video games.

It's not like we were setting out to make a political statement - we're just a band with opinions.

I personally don't distinguish between artistic and commercial films.

Didacticism is the death of art.

The genuine music lover may accept the carnal husk of opera to get at the kernel of actual music within, but that is no sign that he approves the carnal husk or enjoys gnawing through it.

The only thing an artist is useful for, and the only reason why we don't just line 'em up against the wall and shoot them, is because, at their best, they're the reflection of our lives, that most regular people can't even afford to think about.

I think subjectivity plays into everything. It's unavoidable; you couldn't avoid it if you tried. I think, potentially, a lot more commercial movies, it seems to be that the people making the films are trying to elicit the same reaction. I think a lot of the most interesting work in art and in films are often kind of polarized opinions and affect people in very different ways, which may be less successful commercially, but they elicit a dialogue that's quite interesting.

When art becomes merely shock value, our sense of humanity is slowly degraded.

While art may instruct as well as please, it can nevertheless be true art without instructing, but not without pleasing.

As my uncle always says, 'If your vibe outweighs your substance, you're destined to be a novelty.' I think that is true in all art.

A good painting should be the equivalent of a good deed.

Art for art's sake? I should think so, and more so than ever at the present time. It is the one orderly product which our middling race has produced. It is the cry of a thousand sentinels, the echo from a thousand labyrinths, it is the lighthouse which cannot be hidden. It is the best evidence we can have of our dignity.

If the work of art is good enough, it must not be criticized for its theme. I don't think it can be argued.

I usually don't mind movies that people think go overboard because that's what art is all about. Art is about pushing us and making us examine ourselves.

Art for art's sake is dead, if it ever lived.