I have painted enough to have a lot of respect for mediocre painters. It's really hard. Peter Schjeldahl More Quotes by Peter Schjeldahl More Quotes From Peter Schjeldahl What I want to know from students, and I ask them right away, is, 'What do you want? I don't care what it is. I want to help you get it. Peter Schjeldahl carewantdesire Picasso had nicknamed Georges Braque "Wilbur," thereby becoming "Orville" in their Wright Brothers-like ambition to get painting off the ground of conventional representation. Peter Schjeldahl becomingambitionbrother There is an ineffable but fatal difference in attitude between people behaving naturally and people behaving naturally for a camera. Peter Schjeldahl differencesattitudepeople A word is a thought, of course. But any image, including a photograph, may become an instrument of sufficiently lucid cogitation. Peter Schjeldahl instrumentsphotographmay With art criticism it's difficult to discuss beauty, to assess it, because there's always the possibility that we're insane. Peter Schjeldahl insanecriticismart Rembrandt was way ahead of his time. It's as if he was painting an amateur theatrical, or a professional theatrical, in his studio. It's a kind of performance. Peter Schjeldahl paintingkindway Your medium has to be alive to you, no matter what you do. Peter Schjeldahl no-matter-whatalivematter I have a total responsibility to the reader. The reader has to trust me and never feel betrayed. Peter Schjeldahl trust-mebetrayedresponsibility There's a double standard between writers and readers. Readers can be unfaithful to writers anytime they like, but writers must never ever be unfaithful to the readers. Peter Schjeldahl double-standardunfaithfulstandards It's my duty to sell the ideas. But there's always a question when it comes to beauty. Peter Schjeldahl sellsdutyideas Beauty is a physiological reaction. Beauty is not an object. Peter Schjeldahl physiologicalreactionsobjects There's art that I would readily buy if I could afford it, and enjoy, but would never write about because it doesn't seem significant. Peter Schjeldahl significantwritingart Artists are sometimes in a position to tell the truth, but they're positioned as a Cassandra. They're gifted with impeccable prophecy and the assurance of never being listened to. Peter Schjeldahl telling-the-truthartistsometimes Smithson was someone of tremendous significance whose work was not beautiful at all. I think he was an iconoclast. Peter Schjeldahl significancebeautifulthinking For Rembrandt, reality is role-playing.... Everyone is portrayed in relation to a social hierarchy. Peter Schjeldahl role-playingrolesreality Minimalism itself had a very strong iconoclast impulse. You think of the sixties as loose and liberated, but in art it was actually quite the contrary. Peter Schjeldahl strongartthinking Artists are expected to talk about their work but writers aren't expected to talk about their writing. Peter Schjeldahl expectedartistwriting I'm absolutely convinced that people cannot look and read at the same time. Not any more than you can kneel and jump at the same time. It's a completely different physiological setting. Peter Schjeldahl differentpeoplelooks Comic books, graphic novels, involve constant toggling and it's hard work. You get tired reading comic books, but you never get tired looking at pictures or reading words. Peter Schjeldahl hard-workreadingbook All artists and creative people are basically unhappy people. If you were happy, that would mean you were content with the world as it was and why would you ever want to change it? Peter Schjeldahl artistmeanpeople
