John Ridley Quotes

Over the course of my career, I have come to accept that some of my more provocative work courts controversy, and as an artist, I value the discourse that arises from this. I can only hope for this discourse to be informed by fact, so that whether you love my work or hate it, you give it, and me, the benefit of the truth.

For a long time, censors have been cutting my works. This makes me so sad, because many times they will tell me, 'Television won't like, so we have to cut, cut, cut!'

People think it's suspect and self-indulgent to make art, and I don't think that's true. Some people think you should be busy making something that you can sell in the marketplace, and if nobody wants to buy it, it must be crap. And that's not true.

Senator Helms might very well do that. I would point out to him that we in the art world are not necessarily in the business of making controversial art.

I don't feel that as an artist my job is to offer PR propaganda, whether for the good or for the bad.

Making art in America is sort of a political statement in and of itself. It's not the best environment for that sometimes.

I think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit.

I will not have the Federal Theater used politically.

Music is an artform, and I always though art was beyond censorship. I thought this was a common view. Apparently, I was wrong.

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

I think people should just make art and let the art speak for itself.

One thing that N.W.A did, as Larry Flynt did before them, was to expand the boundaries of our reliance upon the good sense of the people to determine what's right and what isn't, what's obscene and what isn't, and what's immoral and what isn't.

I'm an artist, and I like art that gets people talking, good or bad. Criticism is good, too.

Didacticism is the death of art.

The work of art may have a moral effect, but to demand moral purpose from the artist is to make him ruin his work.

I don't believe in censorship, but I do believe that an artist has to take some moral responsibility for what he or she is putting out there.

An artist in my view is always afraid of extremists; he is always afraid of those who claim to have found the ultimate solution to any question.

Obscenity is a notable enhancer of life and is suppressed at grave peril to the arts.

It may be said that artist and censor differ in this wise: that the first is a decent mind in an indecent body and that the second is an indecent mind in a decent body.

It's sometimes hard to talk about politics and art. Obviously, I have my core beliefs, but I think art is best when it's troublesome and pushes against stuff.

Art can be very political but that can't be the purpose of art, it can't be the driving force. It isn't with any of the books that I love, anyway.

What a terrible world it would be if we only did films that were poster boards for political causes.

My lyrics aren't offensive. Some people find everything offensive.

I did pose for 'Black and White' magazine, a prestigious, artistic publication, several years ago... I did this as a piece of art and make no apologies for the creative decisions I've made as an artist in my 20-year career.

When you're young, with less on the line, it's easier to be audacious, to experiment. So I introduced the concerns of my generation - politics, sex, drugs, rock-and-roll, etc. - to the comics page, which for many years caused a rolling furor.