Karyn Kusama Quotes

It is an impressively arrogant move to conclude that just because you don’t like something, it is empirically not good. I don’t like Chinese food, but I don’t write articles trying to prove it doesn’t exist.

I'm sometimes critical about other artists who come out with something different until maybe I hear the music. If the music is there, then they did their job, and I'll enjoy the CD.

How do you rate works of genius? Partly by personal inclination, partly by accepted wisdom, partly by popularity.

You have to be careful when you use beauty as a guide. There are many theories people didn't think were beautiful at the time but did find beautiful later - and vice versa.

I think in any work of art, there always will be randomness about what is good, what is bad.

I think critics are very useful. But I think that they, in a way, betray their position when they stop people looking for themselves.

Great music is in the ear of the beholder.

I'm always weary of connotations. I don't want people to listen to the music I make presently because they liked my previous work, or to dismiss it because they didn't. I'm guilty of this as well - having preconceptions about other artists - but it's stupid because all music exists on its own and should be listened to with a clear head.

The learner always begins by finding fault, but the scholar sees the positive merit in everything.

There are many artists that I present that I admit I like less than I do others. But I think that they warrant being presented by my own, personal standards.

He that never changes his opinion never corrects mistakes and will never be wiser on the morrow than he is today.

I think, for me, personally, I try to be sensitive to issues as I learn about them. And I also try to constantly become not only a certain type of person but also become more in tune to the issues I'm covering. As I get older, I think that things just affect me more.

I cannot tell good art from bad art. I have no eye for it.

At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.

To be dogmatic about a cause you believe in at the age of 20 or 30 is not unusual. But to be dogmatic at age 55 or 60 shows a lack of any learning capacity.

Like everybody, my views on many issues have changed as I have gotten older.

Ultimately, taste is so niche and so personal.

Casting is sort of like looking at paintings. You don't know what you'll like, but you recognize it when you see it.

I was an awful critic. I operated on the assumption that there was an absolute scale of values against which art could be measured. I didn't trust my own subjective responses.

I am of the opinion that the appreciation and the desire for what is good takes more study and insight than does the understanding and test for the best music and art.

The arts are not just instantaneous pleasure - if you don't like it, the artist is wrong. I belong to the generation which says if you don't like it, you don't understand and you ought to find out.

A critic should be taught to criticise a work of art without making any reference to the personality of the author.

I used to have so many opinions before I learned the facts.

That's one of my pet peeves. People always want to put something into a category - this one or that one. You know, a great song is a great song.

I think it's pretty stupid to write off an entire genre of anything. It's one thing to say 'I don't like country music.' But it's pretty narrow minded to say 'All country music sucks.' Of course, that being said, all short-form improv sucks.