Giving jazz the Congressional seal of approval is a little like making Huck Finn an honorary Boy Scout.

Giving jazz the Congressional seal of approval is a little like making Huck Finn an honorary Boy Scout.

Fine art, that exists for itself alone, is art in a final state of impotence. If nobody, including the artist, read more

Fine art, that exists for itself alone, is art in a final state of impotence. If nobody, including the artist, acknowledges art as a means of knowing the world, then art is relegated to a kind of rumpus room of the mind and the irresponsibility of the artist and the irrelevance of art to actual living becomes part and parcel of the practice of art.

The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - read more

The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - it is a process of elimination.

Portraits are supposed to "look within," but in my opinion very few people have an interior significantly different from the read more

Portraits are supposed to "look within," but in my opinion very few people have an interior significantly different from the outside portrait.

There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.

There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.

Art need no longer be an account of past sensations. It can become the direct organization of more highly evolved read more

Art need no longer be an account of past sensations. It can become the direct organization of more highly evolved sensations. It is a question of producing ourselves, not things that enslave us.

Each of the arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish and grace life is under the patronage of read more

Each of the arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish and grace life is under the patronage of a muse, no god being found worthy to preside over them.

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.

I always try to balance the light with the heavy - a few tears of human spirit in with the read more

I always try to balance the light with the heavy - a few tears of human spirit in with the sequins and the fringes.