QuoteProject
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 Stella
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Creating art can be challenging due to the evolving nature of artistic categories, but artists should focus on their own creations first.

This quote by Frank Stella emphasizes the inherent complexities in the realm of art, particularly due to the ever-changing definitions and expectations surrounding artistic categories. It encourages artists to prioritize their unique creative expression over conforming to predefined labels, suggesting that classification will naturally evolve after the artwork itself is produced.

Themes

ArtCreationCategoriesExpressionIndividuality

In practice

Example use cases

An artist could use this quote while explaining their unconventional approach in a gallery opening.

More from Frank Stella

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.
Frank StellaRead
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

After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption.
Wallace StevensRead
Artists should be free to create what we want. I believe there's a special value in work that is a reflection of oneself as opposed to interpretation. When I see a film or a TV show about black people not written by someone who's black, it's an interpretation of that life.
Ava DuvernayRead
I wanted to write and direct movies and not be forced to adapt them from a bestselling book.
Francis Ford CoppolaRead
Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.
Rainbow RowellRead
I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an endless labyrinth. I have tried to shed some gleams of light on the shadow of man startled by his anguish.
Marcel MarceauRead
When I'm writing a book, I don't have any responsibility to anyone. I'm solitary. I'm writing on my own. I write by hand. And I write every day. I mean, it's part of my daily discipline.
Patti SmithRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.