Man Ray

I like contradictions. We have never attained the infinite variety and contradictions that exist in nature. Tomorrow I shall contradict myself. That is the one way I have of asserting my liberty, the real liberty one does not find as a member of society.

I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive.

I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions.

l photograph what l do not wish to paint and l paint that which l cannot photograph.

Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.

Dada cannot live in New York. All New York is dada, and will not tolerate a rival.

Nature does not create works of art. It is we, and the faculty of interpretation peculiar to the human mind, that see art.