Literature is love. I think it went like this: drawings in the cave, sounds in the cave, songs in the cave, songs about us. Later, stories about us.
You know, the history of California art doesn't start until about 1961, and that's when these photographs start. I mean, we have no history out here.
My childhood was extremely unhappy. That's not to say that my parents didn't love me. But it was traumatic, and of course, art doesn't come out of rosy gardens. It comes out of damage.
The act of creation is a kind of ritual. The origins of art and human existence lie hidden in this mystery of creation. Human creativity reaffirms and mystifies the power of 'life.
Whatever the practical origins of aesthetic discernment may have been, it has been used to create great works of art. When the very loftiest human creations are seen to derive from humble origins and functions, what needs revision is not our esteem for these creations but our notion of nobility.
The oldest theory of art belongs to the Greeks, who regarded art as an imitation (mimesis) of reality. The strength of that theory is that it explains the way in which art takes its materials from real life.
Painting and drawing has been here for 35,000 years.
I found it amazing people can think that art must be connected to religion. Religion may give art themes, but there would still be art without religion. Bach is not proof that art exists.
France has lived a long time - eight or nine centuries - and yet art in France, too, was derivative up until the 19th Century.
All art began as sacred art, you know? I mean, all painting began as religious painting. All writing began as religious writing.
Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it began as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.
Not everyone can become a great artist; but a great artist *can* come from *anywhere*.
