A created thing is never invented and it is never true: it is always and ever itself.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that creativity is a unique expression rather than a mere reproduction of reality.
Fellini's quote suggests that every act of creation is inherently original and self-referential. It implies that while creators draw from experiences and realities, what they produce transcends mere imitation to become its own entity, embodying the essence of its creation. Rather than aiming to be 'true' to life or to a concept, art and created things should be appreciated for their individuality and the distinct perspective they offer.
In practice
During a lecture on the nature of art, one might use this quote to illustrate the concept of originality.
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.
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.
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.
What I'm trying to do is just sing what comes to my body in the context of the song. And if you go by the emotion of the song, it's almost like stepping into a city. Cities have certain customs and rules and laws you can break, and that's what I was doing.
The starting point of a picture for any painter is a matter of colors and form...I believe that the poetry of art - if that is what one may call it - is a matter of animating these forms and colors.
Language upon a silvered tongue affords enchantment enough.
Writing doesn't mean necessarily putting words on a sheet of paper. You can write a chapter while walking or eating.
There are artists who delight listeners with their wild and daring individuality; there are others who uncover the written score with reverence. There are few who can do both.
Movies are movies: they take you back in time, and how it still is for some
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