Chris Ofili Quotes

The studio is a place where I can experiment before I'm prepared for an idea to become a body of work, or a new way of working, or a way of working that can sustain me over a period of time.

Sometimes for a lot of new artists, they don't have a vision, really, or know what they want to say; it's kind of drawn out for them. But me, because I'm such a transcendental thinker, it's always like a journey and an adventure with each project. It's like going through a different doorway each time.

Not content, but the road the artist takes, is the interesting part.

Sometimes I find myself at three o'clock in the morning painting something and throwing things around and seeing what works. I'd like to properly study fine art. I think it would be quite an interesting endeavor.

There's no way to really mock up or simulate what I'm doing until I'm there. An exhibition for me is not a statement but an experiment.

I'm not the kind of artist who has an idea and then carries it out; it's more like I find what the idea was through doing the paintings.

I can't just go into the studio with one idea and be all in on that, 100 percent. It takes me a while to arrive at something that feels like it's finished.

I think if you're a creative person, then you're always kinda looking to move things along - 'Where else can I go? Where can I take this?' From painters to photographers - anything creative in the arts - if you're a true artist, I think you'll always look to do something else. 'Where else can I go with it?' Do you know what I mean?

When I paint, I never think of selling. People simply fail to understand that we paint in order to experiment and to develop ourselves as we strive for greater heights.

I look at the artistic process as like experiencing the world, channeling it through your personality and sending it back out there. That's the process.

We are probably the only artists in the world who have a 2,000-page book on a work of art that doesn't exist. But in this way, these projects reveal their identity through this whole process. When I'm starting, I only have the slightest idea of how the work of art will exist.

That's what's great about the arts. Everything inspires you, and you get a chance to grow from watching other people and how they do their work.

Every artist makes himself born. It is very much harder than the other time, and longer.

I see my studio like a laboratory, where I work like an investigator - it's almost forensic. I love the discovery process in painting.

It is important to make your own stuff. Even if you are not an actor, it is important to not stop involving yourself as a creative person.

I enjoyed art in school. I've always done little drawings and stuff like that. I don't really know what I'm doing with the painting, but I experiment.

In any of the arts, you never stop learning.

I take this art very seriously and passionately. I love what I do. You can't help but grow. That's not to say you don't make mistakes or make bad choices, but that's part of the art. Painters paint bad paintings.

Once I make a picture, I never look at it again.

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.

I want to try it to see what it's like and see what my stuff looks like when I take it from inception to completion.

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 think, like any artist, those baby songs are not the best things you've ever written, but they count because they're you're first attempts at creating art and expressing yourself.

The reason you work as an artist is to stay open and ask questions.