Raf Simons Quotes

I grew up at the time of Social Realism in Poland, when everyone was supposed to be 'writing for the workers.' But I soon became allergic to this. I have never written for audiences. I like it if they appreciate my music. But I would never change my style for them.

Young people have realised that an artist is in charge of what they're doing - this crazy cynicism that artists were puppets has disappeared.

Art is a severe business; most serious when employed in grand and sacred objects. The artist stands higher than art, higher than the object. He uses art for his purposes, and deals with the object after his own fashion.

Any system that sees aesthetics as irrelevant, that separates the artist from his product, that fragments the work of the individual, or creates by committee, or makes mincemeat of the creative process will, in the long run, diminish not only the product but the maker as well.

I'm not an artist who has an agenda that's set by the work.

The only way for me to be an artist is to be honest in my craft. If I veer from that, I'm not giving the investors what they want. Sometimes it's my job as an artist to know what I want to do, even when the fans tell me different.

Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion.

I'm worried a lot of our work day as artists is a producer's creation - not an artist's creation.

I like artists to have some freedom.

I have a feeling that art is something you do for yourself, and that any time you turn your decisions over to someone else you're postponing at best, your own development. The atmosphere of the workshop should be that of trying out one's own work and accepting the signals from others but not accepting the dictation of others because that is a violation of the spirit of art. Art can't be done by somebody else, it has got to be done by the artist.

I think it's harder to make a classic now, not because of what people say, but because artists now are so concerned with what people say.

It's very important that you never depend on money to fulfill your creative vision. If you do that, you're doomed to fail.

Artists are not your art monkeys. They are your collaborators. They should be given all due consideration to follow their journey.

I do not want my new works to be generated in a market or audience of any kind.

I guess I created LeRoy Neiman. Nobody else told me how to do it. Well, I'm a believer in the theory that the artist is as important as his work.

The one thing about program television that's absolutely incompatible with any concept of art is that all decisions have to be made by program directors, whereas art is autonomous. It may be dependent, but it knows no superiors.

The Weinsteins believe in test screenings. I don't. I don't think good films are made that way. Call me crazy, but I'd like to think you need a singular vision to make good art.

Art is uncompromising and life is full of compromises.

The reason I never wanted to sign with a big label was because I didn't want no one telling me how to make my music.

In art, at a certain level, there is no 'better than.' It's just about trying to operate for yourself on the most supreme level, artistically, that you can and hoping that people get it.

There is no such thing as an artist - only the world, lit or unlit, as the world allows.

I am proud being an artist who takes risks, who would walk off a cliff artistically. I won't settle for commercial reasons.

The potential success that could come with signing with a major label didn't quite outweigh how important it was for me to make my music the way I knew it needed to be made.

A lot of big whoever producers, they come with a song and they say, 'Sing this,' and I'm not that girl.

To be a good artist, you have to serve the work of art and allow it to be what it is supposed to be.