contemporary art quotes

Discover thought-provoking and innovative quotes from the world of contemporary art. Explore the stunning creativity of today's artists.

What do you think are the most important things in life? Money, dreams, sympathy towards others... Yes, they're all important things as well... But the most important thing is responsibility for your own actions.

- Yuichi Onodera

True happiness only lasts for a brief time, so you better enjoy it while you can, right?

- Yuichi Onodera

But once you grow old, you become afraid of even losing things without any value.

- Yuichi Onodera

I despise myself... because others are too kind to me...

- Yuichi Onodera

As long as our love is stronger than the hatred within us, we can keep it sealed away.

- Yayoi Kanbara

The black person is the protagonist in most of my paintings. I realized that I didn't see many paintings with black people in them.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

Since I was seventeen I thought I might be a star. I'd think about all my heroes, Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix... I had a romantic feeling about how these people became famous.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

Occasionally, when I get mad at a woman, I'll do some great, awful painting about her.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

Medicine men live in caves.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

If you wanna talk about influence, man, then you’ve got to realise that influence is not influence. It’s simply someone’s idea going through my new mind.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

If I'm away from painting for a week, I get bored.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

I'm not a real person. I'm a legend.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

I'd say my mother gave me all the primary things. The art came from her.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

I was a really lousy artist as a kid. Too abstract expressionist, or I’d draw a ram’s head, really messy. I’d never win painting contests. I remember losing to a guy who did a perfect Spiderman.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

I wanted to build up a name for myself.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

I want to make paintings that look as if they were made by a child.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

I think there’s a lot of people that are neglected in art.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

I start a picture and I finish it. I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat

I never went to an art school. I failed the art courses that I did take in school. I just looked at a lot of things. And that’s how I learnt about art, by looking at it.

- Jean-Michel Basquiat