l photograph what l do not wish to paint and l paint that which l cannot photograph.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the idea that photography captures reality while painting allows for personal interpretation beyond what is seen.
Man Ray's quote highlights the distinction between photography and painting as art forms. He suggests that photography is a medium to document what is real and tangible but can also confine the artist to mere representation, while painting provides the freedom to express the intangible emotions and ideas that may not be captured through a camera lens. This underscores the unique qualities and creative capacities inherent in both art forms.
In practice
In an art class discussing the differences between photography and painting.
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.
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.
When people ask what 'American Pie' is about, they're missing the point. The song isn't about the lines themselves - it's about what is between the lines. The song is about what isn't there.
Itβs as hard to explain as a sexual proclivity. Some guys like high-heeled shoes. I like horror.
If a novelist tells you something she knows or thinks, and you believe her, that is not because either of you think she is God, but because she is doing her work - as a novelist.
A man of eighty has outlived probably three new schools of painting, two of architecture and poetry and a hundred in dress.
Every grain of experience is food for the greedy growing soul of the artist.
Beauty is something that burns the hand when you touch it.
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