Making art is complicated because the categories are always changing. You just have to make your own art, and whatever categories it falls into will come later.
Frank StellaRead
But, after all, the aim of art is to create space - space that is not compromised by decoration or illustration, space within which the subjects of painting can live.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art seeks to create an unadulterated space for its subjects to exist.
In this quote, Frank Stella emphasizes that the primary purpose of art is to create a distinct space that is free from extraneous decoration or embellishment. This space allows the subjects of the painting to thrive and be appreciated in their own right, highlighting the importance of purity and focus in artistic expression.
Themes
ArtSpaceSubjectsPaintingExpression
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in an art class to inspire students to focus on the essence of their subject.
More from Frank Stella
All quotes →No art is any good unless you can feel how it's put together. By and large it's the eye, the hand and if it's any good, you feel the body. Most of the best stuff seems to be a complete gesture, the totality of the artist's body; you can really lean on it.
Frank StellaRead
Similar quotes
I think bridges have a special meaning in our life. I think a book is a bridge. Any type of art is a bridge that allows different cultures to connect. You may not understand your neighbour's way of seeing life, but you sure understand your neighbour's joy in painting or dancing.
Paulo CoelhoRead
They are fairies; he that speaks to them shall die. I'll wink and couch; no man their works must eye.
William ShakespeareRead
Humans like stories. Humans need stories. Stories are good. Stories work. Story clarifies and captures the essence of the human spirit. Story, in all its forms—of life, of love, of knowledge—has traced the upward surge of mankind. And story, you mark my words, will be with the last human to draw breath.
Jasper FfordeRead
Music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things, including, and particularly, the coordination between man and time.
Igor StravinskyRead
Fiction is an elemental force, which has the power to shape reality in its own image - or images, I should say - because reality, like light, exists not only as a single point or particle, but also as an array of possibilities.
Ruth OzekiRead
I guess I have a talent for humiliation, a place within me that experience can't reach, which is terrible in real life but something that comes in handy in writing. It seems as though humiliation has become a career for me.
Karl Ove KnausgardRead