|
Every time some new huckster of angst-ridden metaphor is appointed by Art Forum, the congregation genuflects, stroking the catalog like a handful of Rosary beads, and starts spreading that old gospel according to Hyperbole. No questions asked... And thus the bill of goods is sold, all along the line. An art historical snake, swallowing its own tale. (Abe Ajay)
I do not like to be a prophet. I like better to paint than to predict what the next painters will do. Though I have a feeling that consideration of order is very much in the air. (Josef Albers)
The function of the contemporary artist is to crystallize the popular mythology of the times in which he lives. (Ran Andrews)
I have always been very much involved in the pseudo biological cycle of production, consumption and destruction. And for a long time, I have been anguished by the fact that one of its most conspicuous material results is the flooding of our world with junk and rejected odd objects. (Arman)
Painting today is pure intuition and luck and taking advantage of what happens when you splash the stuff down. (Francis Bacon)
-interview with Spiegel Online...
I had two big exhibitions in Dresden, but no one went... And look at music. Alfred Schnittke was an important contemporary composer, and he lived in Germany, but no one here has heard of him... I think that our music and our art belong to our era. If the public doesn't show up, it must be stupid. (Georg Baselitz)
In the mid-fifties, a revolution occurred and a new word entered the vocabulary of commercial art. Concept... But the change was not entirely good. Our gain was also a loss... There was great value in something well observed and carefully delineated. If the head and heart were often absent, there was something to be said for the presence of a hand. (R. O. Blechman)
-talking about contemporary art...
Shellac it, and send it to Rona. (Chris Bohnert)
There is no new wave, only the sea. (Claude Chabrol)
Creativity has become disposable and value has been stripped out. The intrinsic value of music has been reduced to zero [whereas] contemporary art is worth millions by virtue of its exclusivity. This album is a piece of contemporary art. The debate starts here. (Wu-Tang Clan)
Anything popular is populist, and populist is rarely a good adjective. (Brian Eno)
One of the things I feel confident in saying we can do is bring some excitement, and challenges, to people's lives. We want them to be able to embrace the unexpected. (Zaha Hadid)
I mean, people listen to music, and they like that, but I think in England, a lot of people don't like contemporary art. (Damien Hirst)
All art is contemporary, if it's alive, and if it's not alive, what's the point of it? (David Hockney)
-on Liz Arnold, January-February 2000...
Her paintings are about what is contemporary in that they are about anachronism - the impossibility of ever getting to the new place because it will already have become old and the newness will be elsewhere. (Jonathan Jones)
We are not disillusioned because we have no illusions... What we have and what is our strength, is our joy in life... in all its amoral aspects. That is also the basis of our contemporary art. (Asger Jorn)
Somewhere a portion of contemporary art has to exist as an example of what the art and its context were meant to be. (Donald Judd)
The conceptual and politically-driven art so popular and considered to be the forefront of contemporary art today is limited by its topicality and will lose its 'punch' when topical concerns move on to other interests. (Scott Kahn)
One of the great currents in the contemporary experience of art is that it seems to come out of the experience of the author. (Anish Kapoor)
Most contemporary artists are behind the bubble in time. They're making videos that are so incredibly boring compared to a good movie. Or they're making work where I say, 'You realize minimal art is 50 or 60 years old?' That's what I tell people to shock them. They just blanch. (Alex Katz)
I don't necessarily think that installation is the only way to go. It's just a label for certain kinds of arrangements. (Barbara Kruger)
All of the significant art of today stems from Conceptual art. This includes the art of installation, political, feminist and socially directed art. (Sol LeWitt)
For me, as an artist, conceptual art would be like conducting a symphony orchestra without knowing the joy of playing a single instrument. The visceral feel of paint is far more attractive. (Liz Reday)
All great contemporary artists, schooled or not, are essentially self-taught and are de-skilling like crazy. (Jerry Saltz)
The problem with contemporary art is that no one bothers to do the research necessary to give people what they want. (Michael Scott)
You might argue that the history of contemporary art is a series of avant-garde movements, each new wave outraging the last. (Michael Scott)
That contemporary art be considered as classic and enduring can only be judged by future generations. (Ian Semple)
I have no doubt about a photographer in particular and a digital artist in general having become contemporary icons. (Nikolay Semyonov)
I didn't want to make 'high' art; I had no interest in using paint. I wanted to find something that anyone could relate to without knowing about contemporary art. I wasn't thinking in terms of precious prints or archival quality; I didn't want the work to seem like a commodity. (Cindy Sherman)
I work in a representational contemporary style, but my paintings often include elements of pulp cover art and subjects influenced by film, mythology, urban legend, and folklore. (Tom Shropshire)
The contemporary thing in art and literature is the thing which doesn't make enough difference to the people of that generation so that they can accept it or reject it. (Gertrude Stein)
- b.1904 d.1980...
We are now committed to an unqualified art, not illustrating outworn myths or contemporary alibis. One must accept total responsibility for what he executes. And the measure of his greatness will be in the depth of his insight and his courage in realizing his own vision. (Clyfford Still)
Contemporary art is an epoch of false money allied with false culture. (Alexander Stoddart)
Some people view the contemporary art scene with fear and desperation because there is so much crap. We, however, rejoice because we think it is funny. (Billy Childish and Charles Thomson)
Art has to have meaning and emotional resonance. Contemporary exhibits of conceptual installation, video work etc. have neither. I leave them with my life depleted rather than enhanced. (Charles Thomson)
I'm a contemporary painter who looks to the past for clues about the future of painting. By understanding fundamental principals of picture making, we can develop paintings that are harmonious and innovative. (Joseph Todorovitch)
Frankly, these days, without a theory to go with it, I can't see a painting. (Tom Wolfe)
Apparently, a cleaner at Tate Britain... threw out a bag of rubbish, accidentally we are told, that was part of an exhibition supposedly emphasizing 'the finite existence of art'... The cleaner evidently had no time to question the relationship of his or her being to the rubbish bag, and reached the right conclusion. (Semir Zeki)
| 
