I always try to balance the light with the heavy - a few tears of human spirit in with the read more

I always try to balance the light with the heavy - a few tears of human spirit in with the sequins and the fringes.

The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person.

The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person.

When Michelangelo finished the painting of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, he spent the rest of his life trying to remove read more

When Michelangelo finished the painting of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, he spent the rest of his life trying to remove the paint that had poured into his sleeve.

Art is... a question mark in the minds of those who want to know what's happening.

Art is... a question mark in the minds of those who want to know what's happening.

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it.

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it.

In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith read more

In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it.

As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn't make read more

As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn't make a turning point of it, we were assigned to the humanities, to poetry, philosophy, painting -- the nursery games of humankind, which had to be left behind when the age of science began. The humanities would be called upon to choose a wallpaper for the crypt, as the end drew near.

A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world.

A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world.

Feminist art is not some tiny creek running off the great river of real art. It is not some crack read more

Feminist art is not some tiny creek running off the great river of real art. It is not some crack in an otherwise flawless stone. It is, quite spectacularly I think, art which is not based on the subjugation of one half of the species. It is art which will take the great human themes --love, death, heroism, suffering, history itself --and render them fully human. It may also, though perhaps our imaginations are so mutilated now that we are incapable even of the ambition, introduce a new theme, one as great and as rich as those others --should we call it "joy"?.