I think in fact that unless there is an organic link between the subjective impressions of the author and his objective representation of reality, he will not achieve even superficial credibility, let alone authenticity and inner truth. Andrei Tarkovsky More Quotes by Andrei Tarkovsky More Quotes From Andrei Tarkovsky Modern mass culture, aimed at the "consumer", the civilisation of prosthetics, is crippling people's souls, setting up barriers between man and the crucial questions of his existence, his consciousness of himself as a spiritual being. Andrei Tarkovsky mass-culture spiritual men Art is born and takes hold wherever there is a timeless and insatiable longing for the spiritual... Andrei Tarkovsky longing spiritual art An artist needs knowledge and the power of observation only so that he can tell from what he is abstaining, and to be sure that his abstention will not appear artificial or false. Andrei Tarkovsky abstaining artist needs Objectivity can only be the author's and therefore subjective, even if he is editing a newsreel. Andrei Tarkovsky objectivity subjective editing Above all, I feel that the sounds of this world are so beautiful in themselves that if only we could listen to them properly, cinema would have no need for music at all. Andrei Tarkovsky sound beautiful needs The director’s task is to recreate life, its movement, its contradictions, its dynamic and conflicts. It is his duty to reveal every iota of the truth he has seen, even if not everyone finds that truth acceptable. Of course an artist can lose his way, but even his mistakes are interesting provided they are sincere. For they represent the reality of his inner life, of the peregrinations and struggle into which the external world has thrown him. Andrei Tarkovsky artist struggle mistake The death of childhood is the beginning of poetry. Andrei Tarkovsky childhood For me the most interesting characters are outwardly static, but inwardly charged by an overriding passion. Andrei Tarkovsky passion character interesting Although the assembly of the shots is responsible for the structure of the film, it does not, as is generally assumed, create its rhythm; the distinct time running through the shots makes the rhythm of the picture, and the rhythm is determined not by the length of edited pieces, but by the pressure of the time that runs through them. The pieces that 'won't edit', that can't be properly joined, are those which record a radically different kind of time Andrei Tarkovsky different doe running The only condition of fighting for the right to create is faith in your own vocation, readiness to serve, and refusal to compromise. Andrei Tarkovsky refusal compromise fighting If you try to please audiences, uncritically accepting their tastes, it can only mean that you have no respect for them: that you simply want to collect their money. Andrei Tarkovsky writing trying mean It is obvious that art cannot teach anyone anything, since in four thousand years humanity has learnt nothing at all. Andrei Tarkovsky humanity years art "Man is born unto the trouble as the sparks fly upwards." In other words suffering is germane to our existence; indeed, how without it, should we be able to "fly upwards". Andrei Tarkovsky able suffering men THE ARTISTIC IMAGE IS ALWAYS A METONYM, WHERE ONE THING IS SUBSTITUTED FOR ANOTHER, THE SMALLER FOR THE GREATER. TO TELL OF WHAT IS LIVING, THE ARTIST USES SOMETHING DEAD; TO SPEAK OF THE INFINITE, HE SHOWS THE FINITE. Andrei Tarkovsky speak use art An artist cannot be partially sincere any more than art can be an approximation of beauty. Andrei Tarkovsky sincere artist art Clearly the hardest thing for the working artist is to create his own conception and follow it, unafraid of the strictures it imposes, however rigid these may be... I see it as the clearest evidence of genius when an artist follows his conception, his idea, his principle, so unswervingly that he has this truth of his constantly in his control, never letting go of it even for the sake of his own enjoyment of his work. Andrei Tarkovsky artist letting-go ideas Poetry is an awareness of the world, a particular way of relating to reality. Andrei Tarkovsky reality way world When I speak of the aspiration towards the beautiful, of the ideal as the ultimate aim of art, which grows from a yearning for that ideal, I am not for a moment suggesting that art should shun the 'dirt' of the world. On the contrary! the artistic image is always a metonym, where one thing is substituted for another, the smaller for the greater. To tell of what is living, the artist uses something dead; to speak of the infinite, he shows the finite. Substitution... the infinite cannot be made into matter, but it is possible to create an illusion of the infinite: the image. Andrei Tarkovsky use beautiful art An artist who has no faith is like a painter who was born blind. Andrei Tarkovsky born blind artist Man has, since the Enlightenment, dealt with things he should have ignored. Andrei Tarkovsky ignored should-have men
