Quotes About Ambiguity In Art

The Red Madras Headress
1907, O/C
99.4 x 80.5 cm
Henri Matisse
Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA 

Looking for an anchor to tie your art to?  You won't find it here, partner.  Instead, I bring you ambiguity. 

Artist's Quotes

"There is in every artist’s studio a scrap heap of discarded works in which the artist’s discipline prevailed against his imagination." Robert Brault.

"To sum up, I work without a theory. I am conscious above all of the forces involved, and find myself driven forward by an idea that I can really only grasp bit by bit as it grows with the picture." Henri Matisse.

"I paint in order not to cry." Paul Klee.

"But the Devil whoops, as he whooped of old: 'It's clever, but is it Art?'" Rudyard Kipling.

"No great art has ever been made without the artist having known danger." Rainer Maria Rilke.

"Whoever wishes to devote himself to painting should begin by cutting out his own tongue." Henri Matisse.

"Not only do I not know what's going on, I wouldn't know what to do about it if I did."  George Carlin.

"What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art." Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

"An artist's career always begins tomorrow."  James McNeill Whistler.

"One must beware of a formula good for everything, that will serve to interpret the other arts as well as reality, and that instead of creating will only produce a style, or rather a stylization." George Braque.

"If I knew what I was doing, I'd be doing it right now." Keith Urban.

"Truth and reality in art do not arise until you no longer understand what you are doing and are capable of, but nevertheless sense a power that grows in proportion to your resistance." Henri Matisse.

***

Please accept the following document, which is a copy of these quotes on ambiguity, as a gift from me.  Right click to open the image in a new folder, and then save and print.