Chris Ofili Quotes

It's an artist's choice to speak up about social issues, but I think it's really important, and my favorite artists have spoken out.

I don't make that hard and fast distinction between political and nonpolitical writing. I write about what bothers me.

I have been a politically conscious citizen. I've been an artist, a reader, and have been chiselled by that.

The only duty an artist has is in the quality of the art. There is no moral obligation to denounce. An artist confronted with a tremendous injustice sometimes feels inclined to say something. Denouncing the situation is the artist's choice.

The artist in our time has two chief responsibilities: (1) art; and (2) sedition.

I don't think there was really a time when I have not been politically aware.

Some of the greatest artists did their best work when they got political.

Not all artists have a responsibility to be socially or politically aware, but they do have a responsibility to make great art. They have to find some truth and put that in their music.

I do struggle with how much and in which way, as an artist or celebrity, that you voice your political views.

But I am not political in the current events sense, and I have never wanted anyone to read my poetry that way.

I think it's important, if you are an artist, to use your music to stand up for what you believe in.

I think the good thing about Macklemore is that he is very precise about what he gets involved in. As you can tell, he's very passionate about what he puts his name on, because he talks about things people don't usually talk about, and his concepts are very, very passionate.

I don't think I'm a political songwriter as much as I am just a political person. I think it's in my fabric.

I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics. So forgive me. But I am passionate about this country. I am equally passionate about the potential of the people who live here.

I admire Ai Weiwei for his art and his activism. His art is beautiful in form, and in function embodies the principles of populism and social consciousness I aspire to in my own practice.

We didn't start out to make a protest record at all. That would have been too shallow. As usual, it was simply a case of absorbing what's going on around us.

My poems are political in the deeper sense of the word. Political means to live in your time, to be a man of your time.

My art and poetry is very political now. Because you've got to find that truth within you and express yourself. Somewhere out there, I know, there will be people who will listen.

If the opportunity offers, the Cynic [philosopher] must speak up on the public platform …. You must be able to explain to individuals as well as to a crowd of people the battle they're embroiled in

I was 100 percent political in the '80s - the first time around, let's call it, my first life as an artist.

I want people to know my political point of view. There's an appetite for that, almost an expectation. I also want to make people laugh, but I wouldn't want to do it at the expense of my point of view.

I am an artist with very strong social and political concerns.

I think it's very important of course that you're politically aware of what you do.

I am a politically motivated person, and that will come through in the music.

I've always been known for making socially conscious music in the midst of the love songs and the bedroom songs.