What is an artist? A provincial who finds himself somewhere between a physical reality and a metaphysical one... It’s this in-between that I’m calling a province, this frontier country between the tangible world and the intangible one - which is really the realm of the artist.
Interpretation
An artist navigates the space between reality and imagination, blending tangible and intangible elements in their work.
Federico Fellini defines the essence of an artist as someone who exists in a unique space that bridges physical reality and a metaphysical dimension. This 'in-between' area serves as a creative frontier where artists explore and express the complexities of their perceptions, emotions, and ideas, ultimately contributing to a deeper understanding of both the material and spiritual aspects of life.
In practice
During an art exhibit, to explain the creative process of the artists showcased.
I’m just a storyteller, and the cinema happens to be my medium. I like it because it recreates life in movement, enlarges it, enhances it, distills it. For me, it’s far closer to the miraculous creation of life than, say, a painting or music or even literature. It’s not just an art form; it’s actually a new form of life, with its own rhythms, cadences, perspectives and transparencies. It’s my way of telling a story.
Talking about dreams is like talking about movies, since the cinema uses the language of dreams; years can pass in a second, and you can hop from one place to another. It's a language made of image. And in the real cinema, every object and every light means something, as in a dream.
No critic writing about a film could say more than the film itself, although they do their best to make us think the oppposite.
A created thing is never invented and it is never true: it is always and ever itself.
What's important is the way we say it. Art is all about craftsmanship. Others can interpret craftsmanship as style if they wish. Style is what unites memory or recollection, ideology, sentiment, nostalgia, presentiment, to the way we express all that. It's not what we say but how we say it that matters.
We can all pretend to be cynical and scheming, but when we’re faced with purity and innocence, the cynical mask drops off.
All the soarings of my mind begin in my blood.
When I was young, I struggled with authorship: with everything the word meant and failed to mean. Irish poetry was heavy with custom. Sometimes at night, when I tried to write, a ghost hand seemed to hold mine. Where could my life, my language fit in?
Music is the language spoken by angels.
Escape? There is one unwatched way: your eyes. O Beauty! Keep me good that secret gate.
So often when Black men have to play roles on TV, we're either the noble savage or we're completely a savage, and there's no nuance.
A good film script should be able to do completely without dialogue.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.