Norman Reedus Quotes

Music is the doorway that has led me to drawing, photography, and writing.

My real background was in art studies. At the beginning I was a painter, then I was this graphic designer, then I became an illustrator, then I was a comic artist. But for me it's a different way of expression, a different field of art. They're not separated; everything for me is related.

It's not like since I make comics I only read comics and since I make movies I will only go out and watch movies. Any kind of artistic expression interests me; it goes from literature to music to sculpture, painting; whatever is extremely inspiring for me becomes a reference also for me.

As an artist, I understand that, and I value the creative input of the artist.

The relationship between art and a job is not quite linear, but I really love any and all manifestations of art, really respect any kind of artistic impulse, whether it's paintings and sculptures or really good filmmaking or music. I really see the relationships between these different mediums as very fluid.

Painting, music, photography, and visual art have been creative forms of expression for me for decades.

I have a lot of influences. I like to sit down with the cinematographer a month before, and we'll watch pieces of 20 or 30 movies. You're basically the sum of all the experiences you've ever had, and they're sort of shaken up in you and reproduced in the things you create, and that includes seeing movies.

Art never improves, but... the material of art is never quite the same.

I was always making things. Even though art was what I did every day, it didn't even occur to me that I would be an artist.

I'm probably much more influenced by film-makers and painters than I am by other songwriters or poets.

I'm a contemporary artist and I show in art galleries and museums. I show a number of photographs and films, but I also make television programs, books and some appetizing, all with the same concept.

The whole point of art school is that you're going to be able to have nudes all day long and a teacher who is there to move you. It's great. I did a tiny bit in the one school in Paris, and it was wonderful because you'd have a nude taking a crazy position, and you'd have 10 seconds to do a drawing. Then you'd do a one-minute drawing.

The arts equally have distinct departments, and unless photography has its own possibilities of expression, separate from those of the other arts, it is merely a process, not an art.

I don't believe that a writer does something wonderful spontaneously. I believe it's the result of years of living, of study, reading, his very personality and temperament. At one particular moment, all these come together and the artist 'expresses' himself.

Work can take on a new dimension if you know something about the artist.

My influences change all the time; they have to remain current, because they're the things that capture your imagination and make you want to go into the studio.

A collection is not just one basic idea. It comes from something that is in the air, something you suddenly like and put down on paper and then work out.

What are the sources of poetry? Love and death and the paradox of love and death. All poetry from the beginning is about Eros and Thanatos. Those are the only subjects. And how Eros and Thanatos interweave.

My whole life, I've always had to be surrounded by creative things. I find it relaxing to be in touch with creations by other people.

Painting, sculpture and architecture are finished, but the art habit continues.

I had tried painting, mostly to give myself a greater appreciation of the craft and to inform how I looked at paintings. That led to collaging some of the work I had done on paper, and I found myself mixing in found pieces as well.

I actually grew up hearing this a lot: 'If you're an actor, you can only be an actor, and you have to just do that.' But in order to be a good actor, you have to draw on life experiences. To only concentrate on acting, you're cutting yourself off.

I like working in any medium. Who's making it? How much do I like the story? Does it contribute something?

When you do music, your friends are writers, actors, painters. It's all under the same roof. So anything creative is interesting to me.

I believe that all forms of creativity are related.