Quotes About Art

I think that high art reposes on popular art, without one there cannot be another.

Drag has been featured in popular culture for decades. Movies like 'Kinky Boots,' 'Tootsie,' 'The Birdcage' - even 'Mrs. Doubtfire' - have showcased men, some gay, some not, who dress and perform as women.

I have a fondness for making paintings that go beyond just having a conversation about art for art's sake or having a conversation about art history. I actually really enjoy looking at broader popular culture.

Without David Bowie, popular music as we know it pretty much wouldn't exist.

All of the most popular music of the '30s and '40s were deeply informed by jazz.

Some people thought I was using my popularity as a singer to sell my first novel. For others, it was almost a sacrilege: a practitioner of a minor art daring to enter the field of high art.

Film music has given me everything - career and popularity.

Quite a few operas are still being commissioned around the world, although nothing apart from audience popularity can ensure more than a few performances.

I don't know if I'm a populist artist, but I do try to maintain a spirit of generosity.

My joking answer to this question is that I leave a bowl of milk out on the back porch every night for the Idea Fairy. In the morning, the milk is gone and there's a brand-new shiny idea by the bowl.

The bottom line is music, for me, is an exhaust port for life, and if I have a chaotic year, then I'm gonna write a chaotic record, and that's what happened with 'Ziltoid,' with 'Z2.'

I'm like a gypsy. I've got a place in Beijing, a place in New York, a place in west Africa; I'm working on a place in Colombia. I like the fact that painting is portable - and I've wanted my entire life to be able to see the world, to respond to it, and make that my life's work.

The Great Hall at the Met is one of the great portals of the world... From there, you can walk in any direction to almost any culture.

But to me what seems to be missing in a lot of portfolios is Cartooning.

When you're telling stories, you are actually trying to illuminate some portion of the truth in an artful way. The story may immediately seem to be a lie, but it's like an impressionistic painting - you see the light and the color better than you would with a photo-realistic piece.

Media is the first important portion of any cinema industry.

People have libraries at home, they have bookshelves, they have CDs. And they sort of try, people try to bring great artists into their lives, into their physical houses and sort of live with portions of them. But they're not really deeply engaging with them.

Something about Portland just really resonated with me.

I prefer black and white and portrait photography. I like old, you know, interesting faces, so I think black and white brings out the contrast.

The portrait I do best is of the person I know best.

I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.

In art, there is no need for color; I see only light and shade. Give me a crayon, and I will paint your portrait.

When having my portrait painted I don't want justice, I want mercy.

Going to beauty school and art school in Romania helped me to think of why we use makeup, and it's exactly how you do portrait. You use pencil to make a 3D effect. Makeup is the same... You are able to create an illusion of perfection and balancing proportion.