#artist

It gives him spiritual freedom. To him life is a tragedy and by his gift of creation he enjoys the catharsis a purging of pity and terror, Which Aristotle tells is the object of art. Everything is transformed by his power into material and by writing it he can overcome it. Everything is grist to his mill. ... The artist is the only free man. ↗

— W. Somerset Maugham

#freedom #art

When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if I could bring that private world to life that found its first expression through reading. I really dislike the romantic notion of the artist. ↗

— John McGahern

#become #bring #could #dislike #expression

We were kind of caught up in the genre trap. We didn't really have a lot of artistic freedom. They wanted us to go into a certain direction, so they could promote us easier. ↗

— Mark McGrath

#caught #certain #could #direction #easier

Remember: It costs nothing to encourage an artist, and the potential benefits are staggering. A pat on the back to an artist now could one day result in your favorite film, or the cartoon you love to get stoned watching, or the song that saves your life. Discourage an artist, you get absolutely nothing in return, ever. ↗

— Kevin Smith

#artists-life #creativity #decency #discouragement #encouragement

A great thing happening now in art is that artists are using the figure, the body, clothing, life. ↗

— Issey Miyake

#artists #body #clothing #figure #great

The position of the artist if humble. He is essentially a channel. ↗

— Piet Mondrian

#channel #essentially #humble #position

I think about that "empty" space a lot. That emptiness is what allows for something to actually evolve in a natural way. I've had to learn that over the years - because one of the traps of being an artist is to always want to be creating, always wanting to produce. ↗

— Meredith Monk

#actually #allows #always #artist #because

A half dozen pictures would just about be enough for the life of an artist, for my life. ↗

— Giorgio Morandi

#artist #dozen #enough #half #just

Creativity is a way of living life, no matter what our vocation, or how we earn our living. Creativity is not limited to the arts... ↗

— Madeleine L'Engle

#artist #career #creative #creativity #life

I'm a liability to them - I'm a woman, I'm empowered, I'm an artist. I've had executives who can't come to my shows they're so scared of me. I've been a thorn in many people's sides just by existing. ↗

— Alanis Morissette

#been #come #empowered #executives #existing