Art is, for me, the process of trying to wake up the soul. Because we live in an industrialized, fast-paced world that prefers that the soul remain asleep.
Bill ViolaRead
You are just as qualified as any expert to make a judgment and have a feeling or a response to any work of art.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Everyone's interpretation of art is valid, regardless of their expertise.
This quote emphasizes that art is subjective and personal. It asserts that every individual's feelings, judgments, and responses to art hold value, irrespective of their level of expertise or qualifications in the field of art, thus encouraging everyone to engage with and express their opinions on artistic works.
Themes
ArtSubjectivityJudgmentInterpretationValue
In practice
Example use cases
In a gallery talk, to encourage visitors to share their personal thoughts about the exhibitions.
More from Bill Viola
All quotes βA lot of what making art is, is just being open, and empty. And putting yourself in the right place for things to, literally, come together.
Bill ViolaRead
Art has always had as its test in the long term the ability to speak to our innermost selves.
Bill ViolaRead
The fundamental aspect of video is not the image, even though you can stand in amazement at what can be done electronically, how images can be manipulated and the really extraordinary creative possibilities. For me the essential basis of video is the movement - something that exists at the moment and changes in the next moment.
Bill ViolaRead
Similar quotes
There are two moments worthwhile in writing, the one when you start and the other when you throw it in the waste-paper basket.
Samuel BeckettRead
Generally, we use light to illuminate other things. I like the thingness, the materiality of light itself. So it feels like it's occupying the space, making a plane, being something that was there, not just passing through. Because light is just passing through. I make these spaces that seem to arrest it for our perception.
James TurrellRead
I got out of the Army - in my world - I came to New York, for instance, when the civil rights movement was just beginning, and that created a certain energy, a certain rumble, a certain impetus for black actors.
James Earl JonesRead
As for me, Poetry takes the place of love, because it is enamored of itself, and because this self-lust has a delightful dying fall in my soul.
Stephane MallarmeRead
Master technique, so that technique NEVER prevents you from dancing.
Isadora DuncanRead
You can take things that Jimi Hendrix took, from Curtis Mayfield or from Buddy Guy for example, because we are all children of everything, even Picasso. But if you want to stand out, you have to learn to crystallize your existence and create your own fingerprints.
Carlos SantanaRead