In my experience, as a young black artist, you have to fulfill an archetype, or be a token – and I was unwilling to do that. – Solange Knowles
I have an independent record label called Favored Nations on which I released an album by an artist called Johnny A, who plays an arch top Gibson through a Marshall, but the tone is all in his fingers. – Steve Vai
There was a long time where I was an ‘artist’ in quotes, who had no money. But I guess back then I also never had a girlfriend. – Zach Galifianakis
You want to sell records, but if you want to call yourself an artist, your job is how you express yourself. – Trisha Yearwood
When have you ever heard of a cantor or any artist turning anyone down when he is strongly urged to perform? – Sholom Aleichem
For a while, I was nervous about portraying women because of the objectification that automatically comes with it, whether the artist intends or not. – Toyin Odutola
I’m really interested in social justice, and if an artist has a certain power of being heard and voicing something important, it’s right to do it. It could still be done in such a way that it’s not aggressive or overly didactic. I’m trying to find that form. – Shirin Neshat
You’re hot for two seconds, and you’re struggling to get work again. If it were easy, I don’t think that’s a good place for an artist to work from. – Tatiana Maslany
An artist can be truly evaluated only after he is dead. At the very 11th hour, he might do something that will eclipse everything else. – Van Cliburn
I leave the genre labeling to other people. I really do. If I were to think too hard about it, that would stifle you creatively. If you think too hard about who other people want you to be as an artist, it stops you from being who you want to be as an artist. – Taylor Swift
Working with Mr. Armani is such an incredible experience because he’s so creative and such a visionary, and Linda Cantello is amazing and a true artist. – Sarah Gadon
Architects, sculptors painters, we all must return to the crafts! For art is not a ‘profession.’ There is no essential difference between the artist and the craftsman. The artist is an exalted craftsman. – Walter Gropius
The only way for me to be an artist is to be honest in my craft. If I veer from that, I’m not giving the investors what they want. Sometimes it’s my job as an artist to know what I want to do, even when the fans tell me different. – Talib Kweli
I’ve been very lucky in the freedom that I’ve been given. Every artist needs two types of freedom: You need the freedom to – the freedom to come up with an idea or treatment – and then you need the other half of the freedom, and that’s freedom from – somebody saying, ‘This is great. This is how I want you to do it.’ – Steve Sabol
Making social comment is an artificial place for an artist to start from. If an artist is touched by some social condition, what the artist creates will reflect that, but you can’t force it. – Susan Sontag
The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does. – William Blake
To be an artist, you don’t have to compose music or paint or be in the movies or write books. It’s just a way of living. It has to do with paying attention, remembering, filtering what you see and answering back, participating in life. – Viggo Mortensen
What is it they want from the man that they didn’t get from the work? What do they expect? What is there left when he’s done with his work, what’s any artist but the dregs of his work, the human shambles that follows it around? – William Gaddis
It betrays hubris on the part of the artist to think his medium is limiting him, and I think we all recognize this. – Steve Albini
Being a musician and artist can feel superficial at times – you talk about yourself every day and pose for photos for the magazines and newspapers, and it can be very tiring for your well-being. – Yuna
But, when I toil in the field of Jewish culture which I frequently do, I am indeed a Jewish artist. – Theodore Bikel
Any time you’re nominated for anything, it’s a true blessing and something you should be really excited about, but it’s sort of time to not be considered new anymore because I don’t really feel like I’m new. I’m just glad people still see me as fresh. I wish there was a ‘fresh country artist category’ rather than ‘new.’ – Thomas Rhett
Every artist has to grow, and has to challenge themselves with a new form of expression. – Terrence Howard
Any artist who aligns themselves with a politician is making a category error because what politicians do is not on a human scale, it is on a geopolitical scale. – Zadie Smith
I started off as a graffiti artist in the South Bronx. My tag name was ‘Loco’ because I would go crazy and tag anywhere I wanted, in the weirdest places. – Swizz Beatz
Computer technology is so built into our lives that it’s part of the surround of every artist. – Steven Levy
