I think of myself as a performance artist. I hate being called a pop star. I hate that.
Madonna CicconeRead
Trying to be a professional dancer, paying my rent by posing nude for art classes, staring at people staring at me naked. Daring them to think of me as anything but a form they were trying to capture with their pencils and charcoal. I was defiant. Hell-bent on surviving. On making it. But it was hard and it was lonely, and I had to dare myself every day to keep going.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the struggle and determination of an artist navigating vulnerability and societal perceptions.
In this quote, Madonna Ciccone shares her experiences as a dancer who supported herself through nude modeling, highlighting the tension between her artistic aspirations and the objectification she faced. She emphasizes the loneliness and daily challenges of pursuing her passion, signaling a fierce resolve to succeed despite the difficulties, thus showcasing the sacrifices and inner strength required in the pursuit of art and self-identity.
Themes
ArtStruggleDeterminationVulnerabilityDancer
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about pursuing one's dreams, this quote can illustrate the struggles that artists often face.
More from Madonna Ciccone
All quotes →i won't be happy until i'm famous like God
Madonna CicconeRead
Don’t just stand there, let’s get to it, Strike a pose, there’s nothing to it...
Madonna CicconeRead
I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art.
Madonna CicconeRead
No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you've come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.
Madonna CicconeRead
I always felt like I was a freak when I was growing up and that there was something wrong with me because I couldn't fit in anywhere.
Madonna CicconeRead
Similar quotes
It is not art in the professionalized sense about which I care, but that which is created sacredly, as a result of a deep inner experience, with all of oneself, and that becomes 'art' in time.
Alfred StieglitzRead
All fiction comes from a little bit of reality, otherwise it would have no relevance. The fun is in innovation, take something real like this fair, and make it something larger than life.
Garrison KeillorRead
To me, there is nothing higher than fiction. Nothing. It is fundamentally who I am. I am a teller of stories. For me, that's the only way I can make sense of the world, with all the dance that it involves.
Arundhati RoyRead
I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians.
Francis Ford CoppolaRead
To provide background and physical description and all the rest is of course vital to fiction, but vital only insofar as such detail is in the service of a richly imagined story, rather than in the service of good botany or good philosophy or good geography.
Tim O'BrienRead
...it is seldom indeed that a composition which was poor when the picture was taken can be improved by reshaping it in the dark room.
Henri Cartier-BressonRead