Artistic mindset

Alli K

“I always get tongue tied when people ask me what I do.
I feel I can’t just say artist, plus I like the idea or being MORE”

Brandon Dayton

“Integrity means living your life in accordance with the things that you say. So when you say things publicly, you should live according to those things that you say. So I think that’s something that helps me that I try to be very vocal about what I think is the right way to live, the right way to make art. And I hope I think it helps keep me honest and helps keep me on track. Maybe means saying a few to everyone else for a little while and just creating that thing that you’re most passionate about. Whatever it is, fighting compromise and distraction is part of the battle of art and overcoming it is part of the satisfaction that comes from making art.”

Elise R Peterson

“That’s part of the artist mindset, that you’re always looking for things that don’t exist. It’s maddening. But when you get to a place you didn’t even expect to exist, it’s the most satisfying, fulfilling feeling that I’ve had next to having a child.”
-Elise R Peterson – thecreativeindependent

David Salle

“In a way I’ve been making the same painting ever since I was fourteen”

Frederic Clad

“The entrepreneurial artist does not fit into a system of legitimation already established. He seeks to create his own promotion matrix. In another term, it’s a hacker artist”

Julian Schnabel

“I’m the closest thing you’ll get to Picasso in this life”
-Article The Guardian
Photo: Nathaniel Welch/Corbis Outline

Malia James

“Maybe I could have been more successful earlier on if I’d focused on one medium, but I wouldn’t trade it for the myriad of experiences I’ve had along the way. I like to do it all, but it doesn’t come without sacrifice.”
-Malia James
-Interview by Armine Iknadossian (2013)

Molly Crabapple

“Getting started as an artist is wildly unsustainable unless you already have a financial cushion, which might come from a trust fund or sex work or a rich spouse.” artnews

Sarah Thornton

“I was really interested in artists’ belief in themselves. I think that when Duchamp gave artists the godlike right to designate something as art, he puts artists in a very difficult position. How do you command that authority? To do that is really a real shift and I don’t think it’s any accident that Duchamp started experimenting with his persona. He started crafting identities at the same time as crafting ideas.”
(…)
“Ironically, with conceptual art, being an artist becomes the craft.”
-Sarah Thornton “33 Artists in 3 Acts” Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 2014

The Kaplan Twins

“The Kaplan Twins are two really sexy girls that I found online I got this space and asked them if they wanted to move-in, they said yes. This is effectively an art incubator. Almost immediately we started to think of ideas of how we can monetize their brands in the environment which is direct-to-consumer part sales on Instagram. They made this interesting observation which was that they got a lot more likes on photos of themselves than they did on their artwork. So we got to think about how we can integrate an art object into their lives and tell the stories of their involvement with the art object. Then sell it directly to consumers.”
-Matty Mo ( aka the most famous artist ) about The Kaplan Twins

Takashi Murakami

“When I post images on Instagram showing staff members other than myself painting of assisting with the installations, from some corner of the world inevitably arrives the criticism.”

Artists about art

Aya

“Art is the loudest silence. Scream quietly”

Joseph Kaliher

“Art is so important for humanity as it is both useless, worthless and priceless!”

Matt Smart

“Art is thought made manifest. It is the transition of ideas into matter, conjuring a rabbit out of a top hat’s silky ether. An artist is an agent of concepts, both shamanic and constructive. Paint or clay may be the media. An artist is the medium. Art is magic”

Ronan McKenzie

“It was about the work and the whole concept of the show was home and family. But to me, home is somewhere that I feel comfortable, to just kick back and like relax and read and I don’t feel rushed. I feel like a lot of time in galleries when I go there I feel like I go in I see the work and I come out and I don’t relate to this space or I don’t relate to anything within the space.”
Project “I’m Home” (2018)

Sangma Hanny

“Amazing art styles can be found in every corner of the earth but unfortunately, the earth is round. This is especially true for tribal artists where the art patterns are not even recognized as art as it could be as simple as lines or dots. Its about time tribal art is given the same value or status as much as other art forms”

William Fisk

“The scariest thing is to know that you finally have gotten to this level, that I’ve always strived to attain since I was fourteen years old… Um… and there’s a possibility that you know, it doesn’t all work out. You know, that it isn’t all perfect once you get to this… the most… the uppermost echelon.

And this one took four months. And I worked on it… I didn’t take a break. I worked on it straight through for four months. Every day, seven days a week.

I’m not an easy person to live with. Because, you know, I’m married to my work, in a way. But your partner, your wife or spouse, is completely understanding that you need to do that or to be the person you want to be. And that’s an incredible gift.”

Zaria Forman

“When you really care about what you are doing and it really matters on a personal level, it comes through the quality of the work. I think that’s what viewers respond to most.”

Artists questioning art

Ann Hamilton

“What does it mean to make by hand, to make with a single body, when the influence and the impact of distance in the proximity of our daily lives have changed everything?”
-Ann Hamilton
FRESH TALK: How can makers change the world?