Believe it or not, most people think of me as a recording artist, but actually the way I think of myself and the way I earn my living is as a performing artist. – Helen Reddy
I’m an artist. And usually when I tell people I’m an artist, they just look at me and say, ‘Do you paint?’ or ‘What kind of medium do you work in?’ – Hasan M. Elahi
It wasn’t not being famous any more, or even not being a recording artist. It was having nobody who needed me, no phones ringing, nothing to do. Because I’m still too young to do nothing. I was only 24 when all that happened. Now, at 40, I feel I’ve got more to give than I ever have. – Gary Barlow
An artist is always alone – if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness. – Henry Miller
These days, newish art can be priced between $10,000 and $25,000. When I tell artists that a new painting by a newish artist should go for around $1,200, they look at me like I’m a flesh-eating virus. – Jerry Saltz
I have inherited two of the most important brands in hip-hop, Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella. Reid and Universal Music Group have given me the opportunity to manage the companies I have contributed to my whole career. I feel this is a giant step for me and the entire artist community. – Jay-Z
I wish I had read more and majored in literature rather than theatre. I think I would have been a better artist for it. I am trying to play catch-up now. – Idina Menzel
The only logical thing I can think of is that I knew there were such things as artists, and I knew there were none where I lived. So I knew that to be an artist you had to be somewhere else. And I very much wanted to be somewhere else. – Jasper Johns
I can’t imagine anybody who ends up being an artist who didn’t pass through a time of geekiness. – Junot Diaz
Computers don’t create computer animation any more than a pencil creates pencil animation. What creates computer animation is the artist. – John Lasseter
As a new artist, you come out, and there are so many other new artists. It seems like there’s a whole wave of new artists that come along every year. In ’05, I was part of the crop. It was a lot harder trying to set myself apart from the rest of the pack. – Jason Aldean
As an artist, you make music. And if you see people who don’t know how to market your music, you get involved in it. Otherwise, what you want to accomplish ‘gets lost in translation’ – no pun intended. – Jay-Z
I think that to explore the uncomfortable and the politically incorrect is the job of the artist. – Jared Leto
I prefer to hear an artist’s work and what they can do, so as far as I’m concerned, I’d get a lot more out of a collection of songs to be able to understand what the musician is doing. – Jimmy Page
I discovered early that as an artist there was absolutely nothing wrong with being surrounded by people who were not dedicated to your field. – Junot Diaz
The ego certainly is the biggest obstacle as an artist or performer, so any chance you get to destroy that is really healthy. – James Van Der Beek
Many art-worlders have an if-you-say-so approach to art: Everyone is so scared of missing out on the next hot artist that it’s never clear whether people are liking work because they like it or because other people do. Everyone is keeping up with the Joneses, and there are more Joneses than ever. – Jerry Saltz
A half dozen pictures would just about be enough for the life of an artist, for my life. – Giorgio Morandi
I’ve had so much success. I had something to say, I got to say it, people heard it, and they agreed. That’s every artist’s dream. That’s the brass ring. – Joss Whedon
The best thing about being an artist is the free clothing and getting to kiss pretty girls. – James Rosenquist
My purpose as an artist is to heal the divided feminine in our culture. Well, okay wait, that sounds incredibly cheesy and like something a massage therapist might do at Esalen. – Jill Soloway