Robert Henri Quotes

My respect for artists is very high. I think to get the most out of them, you have to liberate them. I think part of liberating them is saying, 'Come up with something brilliant, new, and fresh. Stop thinking based on what has been beat into you by executives or publishers in terms of what's going to work and what's not. Don't react, just act.'

Being an artist is in part an act of rupture.

You need the past as a guideline. The history of music is a good basis, but to escape that stuff, that tortuous rulebook, you have to learn it first. It's kind of like religion - once you've written the Bible, that's it, move on.

If you're always thinking about someone else's work, about the tradition you're working in, how can you possibly make anything good?

If you are going to break a Law of Art, make the crime interesting.

Just finding ways to be not provocative for provocative's sake, but to show an idea that hasn't been shown before, I mean that's interesting to me.

One kind of artist is always striving to annihilate the past, to make the world anew in each new work, and so to triumph over the dead weight of routine. I am the other kind... who only sees his way forward by standing on the shoulders of those who have already cleared the path ahead.

The key to artistry is being able to say stuff the way other people can't.

Artists should never look at pictures, but should stutter in a language of their own.

The downside of videos is that it will put my vision in front of other people, so they might not get the chance to create their own.

If you stick with a vision, it might not all work, but some of it will be absolute genius. To me, 15 minutes worth of absolute genius in a film is so much better than two hours of mediocrity. I would rather pay to see something different like that.

A truly creative person rids him or herself of all self-imposed limitations.

To be able to create fully, it's maybe fine that you learn the rules, but you have to forget and to rebel against those rules.

I think the idea of art kills creativity.

As a creative person, you want to start with a blank canvas.

It's so important to me that I feel like I'm doing something that's never been done before, whether that's in the show, or I'm writing a song. I can exist in this little box here, but I have to do something new with it.

There's no room for being a visionary in the studio system. It literally cannot exist.

There are no rules and regulations for perfect composition. If there were we would be able to put all the information into a computer and would come out with a masterpiece. We know that's impossible. You have to compose by the seat of your pants.

I've realised that if I aim for a successful record, I probably won't have any success. But if I keep making weird things, then hopefully the audiences will come to us.

Artists rarely do the same thing over and over again. Art is about the new, doing things in a new way.

You never know what an artist is going to create next.

Redeeming subjects from cliche is its own pleasure and privilege.

As a creator, I always want to betray fans' expectations.

I wanted to make my sophomore film as different as possible. I didn't want to be pigeonholed. I didn't want to be identifiable.

The aim of every authentic artist is not to conform to the history of art, but to release himself from it in order to replace it with his own history.