A nation that has no music and no fairytales is a tragedy.
I celebrate my blackness. I love the artistic vibrancy of the culture I was born to.
Fashion in the mid-'90s was too easy. Artistic culture was very earnest, so I was flamboyant and dangerous. I wanted to be seen as more than an outline, so I used fashion to say that for me.
A nation devoid of art and artists cannot have a full existence.
The work ethic at art school is completely different than the work ethic amongst people who get into music. People who paint, it's an honorable thing to spend all day and all night in front of your canvas - that is the romantic vision of the painter.
I find in Britain people are both more arty and more willing to rip you off.
The so-called Christian nations are the most enlightened and progressive ... but in spite of their religion, not because of it. The Church has opposed every innovation and discovery from the day of Galileo down to our own time, when the use of anesthetic in childbirth was regarded as a sin because it avoided the biblical curse pronounced against Eve. And every step in astronomy and geology ever taken has been opposed by bigotry and superstition. The Greeks surpassed us in artistic culture and in architecture five hundred years before Christian religion was born.
When people come to play music as they do to play bridge, civilization will have taken the longest stride forward since the beginning of time.
To all of the artists that attend the Grammys: Stop accepting the invitation to be the upset of the year and demand that this body upholds its mission for advocacy and support of artistry as culture evolves. Demand that they change this system and truly reflect and truly acknowledge your art.
I've always enjoyed the bohemia of Paisley.
In Germany, a certain artistic sense is fairly common, but the artist's sense is foreign there.
I was a product of Andy Warhol's Factory. All I did was sit there and observe these incredibly talented and creative people who were continually making art, and it was impossible not to be affected by that.
England gave me a chance. It's a very individual country where people have a personal style; they don't all follow a trend. The subtlety and wit of England is incredible, and they are very creative.
In my opinion, an individual without any love of the arts cannot be considered completely civilized.
All artists today are expected to cultivate a little fashionable unhappiness.
[On gay men:] Let me say, a more artistic, appreciative group of people for the arts does not exist ... They are more knowledgeable, more loving of the arts. They make the average male look stupid.
Art should have no nationality and between artists we should be able to develop complete reciprocity. We need emotional outlets in this country and the more artistic people we develop the better it will be for us as a nation.
But ‘art’ is not anything serious or exclusive: it is the smell of oil paint, Henri Murger’s Vie de Boheme, corduroy trousers, the operatic Italian model: but the poetry, above all, of linseed oil and turpentine.
Generationally, I relate to Basquiat's culture and the essence of his life story.
Only the free and personal man is a good citizen (realist), and even with the lack of particular (scholarly, artistic, etc)culture, a tasteful judge (humanist).
In the days before machinery men and women who wanted to amuse themselves were compelled, in their humble way, to be artists. Now they sit still and permit professionals to entertain them by the aid of machinery. It is difficult to believe that general artistic culture can flourish in this atmosphere of passivity.
Artists raise their kids differently. We communicate to the point where we probably annoy our children. We have art around the house, we have books, we go to plays, we talk. Our focus is art and painting and dress-up and singing. It's what we love. So I think you can see how artists in some way raise other artists.
It's powerful when you're able to celebrate your culture, but also bring the arts and music to the masses.
Blues, rock and hip hop are more about a lifestyle and culture than notes on a page.
I do worry because it takes all types to make our culture, to make our art. We need it to be available to all.
