Artistic Documentation Quotes

Painting is the frozen evidence of a performance.

To us, the difference between the #‎ photographer as an individual eye and the photographer as an objective recorder seems fundamental, the difference often regarded, mistakenly, as separating photography as art from #‎ photography as document. But both are logical extensions of what photography means: note-taking on, potentially, everything in the world, from every possible angle.

I think most paintings are a record of the decisions that the artist made. I just perhaps make them a little clearer than some people have.

I've photographed everybody from Matisse to Isamu Noguchi.

I seem to be always returning to photography in my poetry. I guess you could say that I'm documenting the personal history and relationship I have with photography.

The only thing I have done religiously in my life is keep a journal. I have hundreds of them, filled with feathers, flowers, photographs, and words - without locks, open on my shelves.

Public art is ephemeral by nature. Google 's new project not only catalogs an artist's work but archives it and allows people to see the art long after it has disappeared.

That is what [Andy] Warhol portraits do: They elevate the subject into an icon of the pop culture he was documenting.

Taking photographs and writing is my way of saying I was here, I saw this, I felt this, I heard this.

Co-operating critics comb the studios like big-league scouts, prepared to spot the art of the future and to take lead in establishing reputations. Art historians stand by ready with cameras and notebooks to make sure every novel detail is safe for the record. The tradition of the new has reduced all other traditions to triviality.

I actually think that 'States of Union' will be a lifelong endeavor for me. It won't take up all my energy as it has in recent years, but I imagine that I will always continue to add to the body of work - the project of documentation will never be entirely complete.

When you look at my father's works, he systematically dated everything. He also wanted to document what he knew would be the work of the century.

I do love to capture beauty in this world. And photos can last the test of time.

When we started making 'Where You Live', I bought a bunch of Polaroid cameras in so that people could record the experience. Some of those pictures are in the CD sleeve.

Artists don't think archivally.

My monochrome pictures are not my definite works, but the preparation for my works. They are the leftovers from the creative processes, the ashes. My pictures, after all, are only the title-deeds to my property which I have to produce when I am asked to prove that I am a proprietor.

I don't own a camera, so I travel with a police sketch artist.

My interest in painting is recording things. I think of myself as almost a documentary filmmaker... I've gotten into some curious situations.

I had to leave some traces. In the beginning, I would give complete instructions to the photographer. In the '70s, people would come to photograph your work and you would just end up with this crazy material that had nothing to do with your work; maybe I'd pick up two or three photographs that were the closest to the idea. This is why when you look at the '70s, you see much less documentation and really bad material. The material will become misleading to what the piece was.

I always carry a sketchbook around with me, and I sketch whenever I can... I might be in a financial review and be sketching because I find that I actually listen better when I sketch. Truth be told, there are probably more sketches in my books than there are written notes.

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.

One of the few things that will remain of this time is what artists are doing. They are the journal and the diary of our time.

When I was doing theater in the 1950's, 60's and 70's we weren't allowed to film any of the shows that I did, it was against union rules. It was a stupid law, because so much is lost. We now have no record of these famous stage plays, so it turned out to be very narrow-minded thinking.

Change is an internal thing. Different things happen or transform, and music and art is a documentation of that.

If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera.