To be an artist is not a matter of making paintings or objects at all. What we are really dealing with is our state of consciousness and the shape of our perceptions.
I was living in New York. Sometimes, our gang of musicians would go to Louis Armstrong's home and play records. It was a lesson, like going to school at night. Ella Fitzgerald was an inspiration, too, a unique artist. When you had an opportunity to be with people like them, you cherished it.
I mean my point as an artist is I'm on my own little weird journey across the sky here and whether or not anybody's listening, or listening to the degree I would like them to, at the end of the day has to be an inconsequential thing because I can't chase this culture.
Well, I'm an artist to the core. And my objective has always been to use my talents and my skills to elevate humanity through my art.
People were more interested in the phenomena than the art itself. This, combined with the growing interest in collecting art as an investment and the resultant boom in the art market, made it a difficult time for a young artist to remain sincere without becoming cynical.
What I've discovered is that in art, as in music, there's a lot of truth-and then there's a lie. The artist is essentially creating his work to make this lie a truth, but he slides it in amongst all the others. The tiny little lie is the moment I live for, my moment. It's the moment that the audience falls in love.
Being in the spotlight, you know, you tend to kind of forget who you are. And being an artist... it could be a very superficial job. It could be very pretentious as well.
It's like Willie Nelson. You're an artist and you have different styles inside of you.
To restrict the artist is a crime. It is to murder germinating life.
When you have a sense of calling, whether it's to be a musician, soloist, artist, in one of the technical fields, or a plumber, there is something deep and enriching when you realize it isn't just a casual choice, it's a divine calling. It's not limited to vocational Christian service by any means.
You know, the record business is much different than being artist on stage.
An artist attunes to what things are, which means sort of listening to the future, which is just how things are - I think time is a sort of liquid that pours out of hatpins, underground trains, salt crystals. So a work of art is also listening to itself, because what it is never quite coincides with how it appears, too.
I think I'll continue to work as a solo artist.
Thinking of that movie 'The Artist'; if anyone ever needed to reach anyone, I'm just thinking they didn't have cell phones, they didn't have Internet, they didn't have email, so I always wonder how it was back then where you had to be home if you needed to get a phone call; otherwise, people couldn't get a hold of you.
I just feel if you are an artist, you always have something to prove, if you are in music or in films, you have to prove that you can still do your best.
To me, what makes an artist is a unique personality that they're not afraid to let show.
The artist is not responsible to any one. His social role is asocial... his only responsibility consists in an attitude to the work he does.
Artists have so much more control of their futures - they don't need to rely so much on major labels or big companies to help them. You have artists like Skrillex that can dominate so much that he gets 5 Grammy nominees, and he's clearly an underground artist.
Every photo shoot, I'm always asking the makeup artist what they're using on me, and I'll go out and get it.
I'm a poor artist. Through brute force, I brought myself up to mediocre. I've never taken a writing class, but I can write okay.
For me, a dancer is part of an artist's entertainment - 'backup dancer' isn't even in my vocabulary.
Any artist manages his own business along with his manager. Every band should.
The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation.
I guess I am ruthless too because that's what makes a great artist. But I also respect people, I don't go around stepping on their heads.
My grandfather was not a musician but he was an artist - a painter, a decorative painter.
I want to go and see things as a fan again. I am a fan, but I can't remember what it feels like to be a fan anymore. Because I've become an artist. I've become the artist.
Back in 1978, when I was still in high school, I went to see a Broadway show, 'Paul Robeson,' starring James Earl Jones. It was all about Robeson's journey as a human being, an artist, a champion of civil rights. Had I not seen the play, I might not have known who Robeson was. I was certainly never taught about him in school.
Computer technology is so built into our lives that it's part of the surround of every artist.
The attitude that nature is chaotic and that the artist puts order into it is a very absurd point of view, I think. All that we can hope for is to put some order into ourselves.
I work with a stylist called Devon Nuszer and a makeup artist called Aaron Barry, and between those two, I trust them implicitly. I have the things I do over and over again and that I feel safe with, but they inspire me to take risks, and I trust them so much.
Can you blame them? We have to filter so much information these days. But it does make it difficult for an artist. I'm 46 years old now. I've had a lot of life experience and my voice has changed. People who expect the same old me are bound to be disappointed.
No one should drive a hard bargain with an artist.
The music alone wasn't enough. It was great, but when an artist had an amazing look - like the MC5, or the Stooges, or Alice Cooper - you really got sucked in. The wardrobe was so important. At a show, you were engrossed in the music, but you were also engrossed in everything from the haircuts to what they were wearing.
I think of myself as a performance artist. I hate being called a pop star. I hate that.
As an artist, you have to work really, really hard because you gotta make something that will allow people to even take the chance to even listen to it, you know?
As a singer-songwriter, a solo artist with a guitar, I can only write so many weepie little bedroom songs.
