Artist Quotes - Page 228

This is the birth of the modern human soul. The artists are like us, not like the Neanderthals, who had no culture - and who incidentally were still roaming the landscape at the time the paintings were made. It is striking that there is a distant cultural echo that seems to reach all the way down to us, over dozens of millennia.

Always have clear lines of communication and be open to trying new ideas. Being open to new ideas is crucial to growing as an artist. If you always have the same creative habits, how will you ever excel to the next level? The answer is, you won't. Taking those creative risks reaps the most incredible rewards.

I've collaborated with artists that truly run the gamut: from members of the Wu Tang Clan and Capone, to Moby, Lady Gaga, and opening for artists such as Sheryl Crow, Jack White, and Chris Shiflett of the Foo Fighters, etc.

If you want to be a songwriter and place a song with a popular artist, then it's ok to follow the trends. This is mainly because many labels are afraid to take big risks on something that sounds too different than the status quo.

As a new artist you should ignore trends at all costs.

Many artists who sign deals in the US and UK get the benefit of worldwide promotion and have a better shot at breaking globally.

In Europe, radio stations are owned by a variety of different entities, so there is less uniformity on radio programming and more opportunity for artists to get radio play and break overseas.

There is no question that the US market is the hardest to break into. I believe that the reason for this primarily has to do with the fact that the majority of the most powerful radio stations in the US are owned by Clear Channel. They are massive and have the ability to break artists worldwide. For the most part, they are dealing directly with the major labels in the US, with whom they have had long relationships. If you are an artist that is not being pushed by Clear Channel radio in the US, your chances of becoming a household name are slim.

Every artist that becomes famous has a team, and needs to convince someone to believe in them enough to have others rally around them to achieve stardom. If I can be that person, then I am happy to do it.

Music is cyclical and as an artist and songwriter, you need to be able to predict what trend is coming next.

I wanted to make photographs that were immediate and revealing - different from traditional portraiture that called for formal distance between artist and subject.

I operate under the assumption that people don't notice the good in me. That's just how things always seem to play out. I get blamed, while con-artist kids like Venus, and Camille, and Gemma get believed. But the rescue lady noticed. In the background, just observing, she noticed.

I practice the artist's golden rule. I wouldn't want somebody telling me how to finish my painting, I'm not going to tell him how to finish his movie or how to shape his movie.

When I commit to working with an artist, I give them as much respect as I would like and if I'm not going to commit that way, then I don't want to work with you.

I want to communicate. I do; every artist does. That's why you're an artist.

We wouldn't be artists, writers, painters, musicians, if we weren't sensitive.

The artist must be blind to distinction between 'recognized' or 'unrecognized' conventions of form, deaf to the transitory teaching and demands of his particular age.

The painter who is content with the praise of the world for what does not satisfy himself, is not an artist, but an artisan; for though his reward be only praise, his pay is that of a mechanic.

They call them performance artists, but they shouldn't be making an album. They should just be dancers. I don't know, I'm a musical snob. I feel like if you're going to record music and you're going to be a singer, you have to be able to sing.

People are getting record deals and they can barely sing. We have these new terms for artists that can dance, but they can't sing.

I'm sure a lot of the hardcore folks are going to be up in arms and I'm really looking forward to getting into that discussion with them. I don't believe I'm compromising on my gameplay ideals at all. [But] any artist who doesn't want his or her work in front of the largest audience possible is nuts.

[St. Ives] is a wonderful place to live. It's a small fishing town and one can live there inexpensively. There's a sympathetic population of other artists, where you can exchange ideas, and it's quite rich in artistic thought.

There were a lot of artists in St. Ives. In fact, since the time of Whistler, St. Ives has been noted as an artist colony.

Bernard [Leach] knew Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Johnny Wells. I can think of a number of people that we met there just because we were living with Bernard. Some of them became our friends, particularly the younger artists, but we were privileged to at least meet and talk with the older artists also. And they would come to dinner, and we would simply be included in the conversation, which was quite fascinating.

I don't know, it's very difficult if you're in a strange country to just barge in and say, "Hello, I'm Warren MacKenzie, and aren't you happy to have me as a guest," you know? But artists did accept us and we remained friends for many, many years, many of them as long as they lived; like Lucie Rie and Hans Coper were very good friends, and it was wonderful.